Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday denounced the “stigma” perpetrated by some about wearing masks as US coronavirus cases surge.
The Republican leader weighed in as partisan divisions persist in Washington over whether or not to wear masks — and as new US infections hit a record high on Friday, driven by spikes in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida.
“We must have no stigma, none, about wearing masks when we leave our homes and come near other people,” McConnell (R-Ky.) tweeted.
“Wearing simple face coverings is not about protecting ourselves, it is about protecting everyone we encounter.”
On Friday, the third-ranking House Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, tweeted a photo of her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, wearing a mask with the hashtag #realmenwearmasks.
On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said a nationwide mandate was “long overdue.”
In Nashville, authorities mandated that masks be worn whenever people are in public. And in Jacksonville, Fla., officials are considering a mask mandate ahead of the Republican National Convention in August. The RNC was relocated from Charlotte, N.C., where Democratic officials resisted hosting an ordinary convention.
Most Republican senators have worn masks amid the pandemic that’s sickened 2.5 million Americans and killed more than 125,000. But a large number of House Republicans still do not wear masks, frequently angering Democrats.
Masks are also rare among White House aides, though staff close to President Trump are routinely tested for the virus.
Trump does not wear a mask and recently told the Wall Street Journal that mask-wearing “could be,” in part, a form of protest against him.
“I see [presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe] Biden. It’s like his whole face is covered. It’s like he put a knapsack over his face. He probably likes it that way,” Trump said.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday, “It’s the personal choice of any individual as to whether to wear a mask or not. [Trump] encourages people to make whatever decision is best for their safety.”
White House coronavirus task force member Anthony Fauci testified to Congress last week he never told Trump to wear a mask, though Fauci said masks are effective at both limiting spread and protecting people from catching the virus.
“Although we don’t know the exact percentage, we can say very clearly that wearing a mask is definitely helpful in preventing acquisition as well as transmission,” Fauci said.
Early in the pandemic, Surgeon General Jerome Adams implored the public in a Feb. 29 tweet not to purchase masks because they “are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.”
Officials later recommended wearing masks, citing evidence of significant asymptomatic transmission of the virus — but still insisted there was no evidence masks protected people from contracting the virus.
Adams said in an interview with Business Insider on Friday that he disapproves of “shaming” people who don’t wear masks, likening it to trying to shame people away from drugs and risky sex.
“I’ve been a little bit surprised — and to a degree disappointed — in how many of my colleagues across the country have resorted to just out-and-out shaming,” Adams said. “We’ve seen over and over and over again that shaming does not work.”