President Joe Biden complained that Americans had stopped wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic, promising to send better-fitting masks to Americans for free.
“About one-third of Americans report they don’t wear a mask at all,” Biden noted disappointedly.
The president spoke about masking during a speech on his video set across the street from the White House on the ongoing battle against the coronavirus.
“I think it’s part of your patriotic duty,” he said about mask-wearing although he admitted, “it’s not that comfortable” and “it’s a pain in the neck” to wear them.
During his speech, he lifted up his mask to demonstrate that masks should be worn tightly over the face and completely cover the nose.
Biden announced he was developing plans to send more free masks to Americans so they would be encouraged to wear masks more often.
“I know that we all wish we could finally be done with wearing masks, I get it, but they are a really important tool to stop the spread of especially a highly transmittable omicron variant,” he said.
He also urged Americans to seek out the “well-fitting masks,” recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.
“There are lots of different masks out there,” he said, noting that his administration had “tripled” the stockpile of N-95 masks.
“Please, please wear the mask,” he said.
Earlier this week, Biden removed his mask while speaking to reporters, saying, “This looks stupid.”