Vice President Mike Pence visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on Tuesday — and notably did so with out sporting a masks. In a sinc
Vice President Mike Pence visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on Tuesday — and notably did so with out sporting a masks.
In a since-deleted tweet, the Mayo Clinic stated it knowledgeable Pence of its coverage requiring guests to wears masks earlier than his go to. Pence, nonetheless, didn’t observe it.
In selecting to not put on a masks, Pence not solely ignored the Mayo’s coverage, he ignored the suggestions of his personal authorities, which has suggested People to put on face coverings in public to gradual the unfold of Covid-19.
A press pool video of Pence’s go to exhibits everybody in Pence’s entourage sporting a masks, with him being the notable exception.
Because the footage circulated on Twitter, the Mayo’s verified Twitter account tweeted that Pence was warned in regards to the coverage however however persevered. That tweet, nonetheless, was deleted a short while later.
In response to questions on why Pence wasn’t sporting a masks, the Mayo Clinic tweeted this earlier. Then they deleted it. In order that’s regular. pic.twitter.com/7peNxMxx7t
— shauna (@goldengateblond) April 28, 2020
Later Tuesday, the Mayo’s Twitter account posted a tweet blandly expressing gratefulness for Pence’s go to.
We’re grateful that @VP and @GovTimWalz visited Mayo Clinic immediately to listen to about our work combating the #COVID19 pandemic. We look ahead to continued collaboration to develop important testing and remedy for our sufferers and communities.
— Mayo Clinic (@MayoClinic) April 28, 2020
CNBC studies {that a} Mayo spokesperson reiterated the since-deleted tweet by saying the clinic “shared the masking coverage with the VP’s workplace,” however didn’t reply to a query about why the tweet was scrubbed. Pence’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail from Vox in search of remark.
The Mayo Clinic’s web site signifies that, as of April 13, all sufferers and guests have been required to put on masks.
“Sufferers and guests are requested to convey their very own face masking or masks to put on. If a affected person or customer doesn’t have a masks, Mayo Clinic will present one,” it says.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune studies that “Pence ignored the clinic’s request that every one guests don face masks to forestall transmission, together with [Minnesota] Gov. Tim Walz and others on the tour.”
Pence and President Donald Trump look like on the identical web page with regards to masks. Notably, when Trump introduced the administration’s masks steerage throughout a information convention on April 3, he stated he wouldn’t observe it.
“I simply don’t need to put on one myself, it’s a advice,” Trump stated on the time. “By some means sitting within the Oval Workplace behind that stunning Resolute Desk, the good Resolute Desk, I feel sporting a face masks as I greet presidents, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, I don’t see it for myself.”
REPORTER: Why are you against sporting a masks?
TRUMP: “I simply do not need to put on one myself … I am feeling good. I simply do not need to be doing– someway sitting within the Oval Workplace behind that stunning Resolute Desk. The nice Resolute Desk … I do not see it for myself.” pic.twitter.com/7dWmQQY3Aw
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 3, 2020
White Home aides lately instructed the New York Occasions that Pence doesn’t really feel like he has to put on a masks in public as a result of he’s often examined for the coronavirus. However that argument is flawed for quite a lot of causes, together with that coronavirus assessments are often inaccurate and Pence might contract (and unfold) the virus between assessments. By refusing to put on one on the Mayo Clinic, he might have unwittingly unfold the virus to sufferers and staff there; and may he have develop into contaminated with the virus, he may very well be a supply of neighborhood unfold on the White Home.
Trump and Pence’s aversion to masks stands in distinction to different world leaders starting from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to French President Emmanuel Macron to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, all of whom have been photographed sporting masks in public.
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