WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump finally wore a mask during a visit to a hospital on Saturday, setting a public example health experts say he should have done months ago, even as his administration’s shambolic approach to the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an upsurge in cases and casualties.
“Hopefully I’ll look good with a mask on,” Trump told a Spanish television network in yet another display of vanity before he headed out to the Walter Reed Military Hospital in Washington DC to visit wounded military personnel. He claimed he’s never been against masks, telling reporters as he left the White House “When you’re in a hospital, especially … I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.”
Pool footage and photos showed Trump striding through the hospital wearing a mask with a presidential insignia on it, seen by observers as a sop to mollify his ego. For weeks, he had disdained wearing a mask saying it would not look “presidential,” mocking his rival Joe Biden for wearing one, and suggesting those who wore one could be making political statements against h