|
 U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there should be no
stigma attached.
"Wearing simple face coverings is not about protecting ourselves, it
is about protecting everyone we encounter," McConnell said on the
floor of the Senate.
The top Republican in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy,
said Americans should follow the recommendations of health officials
to wear masks and socially distance themselves to help slow the
spread of infection.
"They should wear a mask," McCarthy told CNBC on Monday after his
home state of California began to roll back efforts to reopen the
economy.
Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, where cases are
spiking, posted a similar message on Twitter, writing: "I am
encouraging everyone to WEAR YOUR MASKS!"
Trump has given different reasons for eschewing a mask in public,
while his Democratic opponent in November's election, Joe Biden,
generally wears one.
In April, Trump said he could not picture himself in a mask while
greeting "presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens." He
also said he did not want to give journalists the pleasure of seeing
him wear one.
JACKSONVILLE JOINS IN
The city of Jacksonville, Florida, where Trump will accept the
Republican presidential nomination in August, adopted a mandatory
mask requirement for public and indoor locations on Monday.
Asked if the surge in cases and Jacksonville action had changed
Trump's thinking on masks, White House press secretary Kayleigh
McEnany said Trump believed it was a personal choice. "But he did
say to me he has no problem with masks and to do whatever your local
jurisdiction requests of you," she said.
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Throughout the country, resistance to public health measures has taken on a
partisan tone. A Reuters/Ipsos survey in May found one-third of Republicans were
"very concerned" about the virus, compared to nearly half of Democrats.
New York's Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, appealed to Trump to mandate
wearing masks and lead by example. He pointed to states that reversed course and
started requiring masks after seeing a surge. "Let the president have the same
sense and do that as an executive order," Cuomo told reporters.
Some Republicans in Congress have held off on wearing masks. Representative
Louie Gohmert of Texas told CNN he would not wear one because "I don't have the
coronavirus." Other Republicans have shied away from insisting Americans cover
their faces in public, saying it was a matter of personal choice.
That began to change as coronavirus cases nationwide soared to record levels,
prompting Republican-led states like Texas and Florida to reimpose restrictions,
such as closing recently reopened bars.
Vice President Mike Pence encouraged Americans to wear masks during a visit to
Texas on Sunday.
U.S. Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming on Friday tweeted a photo of her
father, Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, wearing a surgical mask
with the hashtag #realmenwearmasks.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan
in Washington and Maria Caspani in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Howard
Goller)
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