President Donald Trump said Thursday night he will wear a mask when he visits the Walter Reed Hospital this week to meet with staff and soldiers.
Trump appeared on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Thursday night. He said he would wear a face covering when he visits the hospital, according to Politico.
“I think it’s fine to wear a mask out if it makes you feel comfortable,” he said.
“I’m going to Walter Reed to see some of our great soldiers who have been injured. Badly injured. And also see some of our COVID workers, people who have done such a great job,” Trump said. “And I expect to be wearing a mask when I go into Walter Reed. You’re in a hospital so I think it’s a very appropriate thing.”
According to The Hill, Trump has yet to wear a mask in public despite the Republican Party calling on people to wear face masks.
The president briefly was seen wearing a mask when he toured the Ford factory back in June, according to The Hill.
“I have no problem with a mask. I don’t think you need one when you’re tested all the time, everybody around you is tested, you’re quite a distance,” Trump said Thursday, according to The Hill.
Trump’s decision to wear a mask came “after a quiet lobbying campaign by some White House aides and political advisers, aides familiar with the discussions said — some of whom were spooked by the sight of so many maskless Trump supporters at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month and concerned by the surge of coronavirus cases in the South,” according to CNN.
One adviser told CNN that the effort took weeks of “lots of negotiation” and “pleading” by aides for Trump to set an example.