As more information becomes available regarding the virus that's caused a public health crisis in the United States, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged Americans in hard-hit areas to begin wearing cloth masks to cover their faces.
Unlike medical professionals, who need N95 masks (of which there is a shortage) when treating virus patients, average Americans can wear makeshift cloth masks that block the saliva droplets through which the virus is spread.
The President announced the new advisory at a Friday press briefing, along with the caveat that he wouldn't be following it himself.
Watch below.
Trump said:
"It's voluntary. You don't have to do it. They suggest it for a period of time, but this is voluntary. I don't think I'm gonna be doing it."
The President was later asked why he wouldn't be doing it, where he once again stressed that the measure was a recommendation, not an order.
The President attempted to justify the decision:
"I just don't want to wear one myself. It's a recommendation, they recommend it. I'm feeling good...I don't know, somehow, sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a facemask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings and queens, I don't know, somehow I don't see it for myself."
Trump's gleeful announcement that he wouldn't be following CDC recommendations struck a sour chord.
The eye-rolls were aplenty.
It's probably best if you follow the advice of the experts, rather than the reality star.
