Senate

GOP committee chair: ‘It would help’ if Trump would wear a mask occasionally

by Justine Coleman - 06/28/20 1:06 PM ET

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Sunday that “it would help” if President Trump would wear a mask occasionally during the coronavirus pandemic.

“If wearing masks is important and all the health experts tell us that it is in containing the disease in 2020, it would help if from time to time the president would wear one to help us get rid of this political debate that says if you’re for Trump, you don’t wear a mask, if you’re against Trump, you do,” Alexander, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, told CNN’s “Inside Politics.”

When asked if the American public should look to Trump for public health advice, the Tennessee Republican said people should listen to health experts

“My suggestion to the pesident all along and for the other political leaders is let the experts do the talking about medicine. People trust them,” Alexander said.

Trump has been hesitant to be seen wearing a mask in public, telling The Wall Street Journal that masks are “a double-edged sword” and suggesting they were being worn as a political statement by those against him.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all people “should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public.”

Republicans seem split on the issue, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saying people should keep wearing masks until there is a vaccine. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) both have advocated for wearing masks in the past week.

But some Republican governors, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have not issued requirements for masks to be worn in public, despite rising cases and other states taking that action.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told ABC’s “This Week” that a nationwide mandate for face masks is “definitely long overdue.”

Experts have said a face covering or face mask could cut the transmission of coronavirus by as much as 50 percent, CNN noted.