Donald Trump Took Off His Mask After Returning to the White House—And People Have Thoughts
President Donald Trump returned to the White House Monday evening (October 5) after spending a few days at Walter Reed Medical Center being treated for COVID-19. POTUS wore a mask when he departed Marine One and climbed the stairs up to a White House balcony, but once there he removed it. “I feel good,” he said and gave a double thumbs up, per the Associated Press.
Physician to the President Sean Conley gave a press conference at Walter Reed ahead of his release. “Over the past 24 hours, the president’s condition has continued to improve. He’s met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria,” Commander Conley said. “Although he may not be entirely out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations, and most importantly, his clinical status, support the president’s safe return home, where he will be surrounded by world-class medical care, 24/7.” Conley also said there’s a chance the symptoms could worsen in coming days. “That’s why we all remain cautiously optimistic and on guard, because we are in a bit of uncharted territory when it comes to a patient who received the therapies he has so early in the course,” he said.
Trump then took to Twitter Tuesday morning, October 6 and compared COVID-19 to the common flu:
Given that the president still has the highly infectious coronavirus, his decision to take off his mask was met with immediate (and warranted) criticism. A number of people noted that while the president has access to “world-class health care” and experimental treatments, that’s not the case for everyone else, including the White House staff he’s at risk of exposing.
Donald Trump’s opponent in the upcoming election, Joe Biden, took this opportunity to reiterate the importance of wearing a mask. “Wear a mask,” he tweeted, with side-by-side videos of him putting one on as Trump removes his.
The president previously tweeted, “Don't be afraid of Covid! Don’t let it dominate your life.”
More than 200,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19 and the CDC still recommends wearing masks to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Originally Appeared on Glamour
