President Joe Biden will begin wearing a mask around others despite not having symptoms of COVID-19 and testing negative for the virus, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
Although the president tested “negative last night for COVID-19”, he was “negative again today” and “has no symptoms”, Jean-Pierre said, “he will be masking indoors and around people, according to CDC guidance.”
Biden will begin wearing the mask because his wife, Jill Biden, tested positive for the virus on Monday. The first lady is “experiencing only mild symptoms,” according to the White House.
The news comes as colleges, hospitals and businesses across the country have begun to reinstate mask mandates. MSNBC contributor and former Obama administration official Kavita Patel said last month that “a mask can be your best friend” and that it’s “time to bring them out again.” Patel admitted that the spike in COVID is nowhere near the levels of previous years.
CNN, the News from New Yorkand Reuters, meanwhile, have it all stoke fears on a spike, with the time declaring that “experts say” we should start “going back to masks.”
A study earlier this year found that mask use “probably makes little or no difference” in preventing the spread of COVID-19, which causes push back from former White House chief medical adviser and mask advocate Anthony Fauci.