Coronavirus: Donald Trump finally relents and dons a face mask

Donald Trump has worn a face mask in public for the first time, yielding to calls to set a public health example.

US President Donald Trump wore a face mask in public for the first time on Saturday (Sunday AEST), yielding to calls to set a public health example as the coronavirus rampages across America.

Mr Trump had on a dark mask featuring the presidential seal as he walked the corridors of Walter Reed military hospital outside Washington to meet wounded veterans.

It has become a hotly anticipated moment — would he have a change of heart on a practice recommended by the government’s medical experts? Mr Trump made it sound like he would wear a mask only because he would be in a hospital — not that he had come around and embraced the idea of donning one regularly. He wore a mask visiting a medical facility a few weeks ago, but did not don it in public.

“I’ve never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place,” Mr Trump said as he left the White House.

“I think when you’re in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where you’re talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.”

Mr Trump was forced at the weekend to cancel an election rally in New Hampshire, citing an approaching storm.

He has pushed to hold large gatherings against health advice as epidemiologists warn of the dangers posed by the virus moving through the air in crowded, confined spaces. Mr Trump’s first rally since March in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 20 was poorly attended because of coronavirus fears and a prank played by teenage activists.

The US on Saturday posted 66,528 new cases, a record for a 24-hour period, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. The country has recorded 3,242,073 infections. The death toll stood at 134,729, with 760 extra deaths counted.

The US has now seen daily new cases top 60,000 in four of five days last week.

In Florida, where nearly one in six of those new infections were recorded, the Walt Disney World theme park in Orlando partially reopened after four months of shutdown prompted by the virus.

News reports last week said aides strongly advised Mr Trump to wear a mask in public — and let himself be photographed — as coronavirus cases soar in some states and as the President trails Democrat Joe Biden in polls ahead of the Nov­ember election.

Mr Trump has steadfastly defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic even though the US is the hardest-hit country in the world.

To wear a mask or not has become a sort of political fulcrum for a deeply divided America.

Conservatives who back Mr Trump often refuse to don one on grounds it impinges on their freedom, while progressives tend to back the practice as a show of collective responsibility at a time of a life-or-death crisis.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommend people wear masks in public when they cannot engage in social distancing.

Mr Trump has repeatedly avoided wearing a mask, even after staffers at the White House tested positive for the virus and as Vice-President Mike Pence took to wearing one.

In May, Mr Trump even made fun of Mr Biden when the latter started wearing a mask in public, sharing a tweet that featured an unflattering photograph of the former vice-president in a black face covering.

Mr Trump has reportedly told aides that wearing a mask would make him look weak and he could not stomach the idea of letting the media photograph him in one.

AFP