Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden shifted his answer regarding federal mask mandates for the third time now, during a CNN town hall event that was held on Thursday he said he would not have the authority as president to mandate people wear face masks in public.
Biden addressed a vast number of issues in the event which includes Attorney general William Barr’s comment comparing coronavirus lockdown measures to slavery.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: TikTok And WeChat To Be Barred From Hosting On US App Stores 20 Sept.
Biden was challenged with a question that said, how would he ensure a consistent message on the pandemic by a person who said the white house’s coronavirus messaging was all over the place since February?
He responded by saying: “What presidents say matter, people listen. I will make it clear what is needed to be done. I cannot mandate people wearing masks but we have just been told… we should expect another 215, 000 people dead by January. But if we wear a mask we save 100, 000 of those lives, doing nothing but that.”
His answer appeared to be a change in his stance on the mask mandate issue from an answer he provided at a campaign event the previous day.
“We have to make sure we layout to the American people the truth, tell them the truth. And I would make sure that I would call every governor in the country into the white house, say, you should be putting mandates out and if they don’t, I call the mayors in the towns and their cities and I say put out mandates, you can save lives, and we should be providing for the PPE,” Biden added.
However, President Trump has been opposing to encourage Americans to wear masks for a long time and continues to understate their necessity and to hold crowded events where masks are not mandatory.
By Andile Sindani