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Trump Wears Mask, Voices Hope for Coronavirus Vaccine

Steve Herman

   MORRISVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA - For the second time, U.S. President
   Donald Trump has been photographed wearing a mask amid the coronavirus
   pandemic.

   Trump wore the face covering as he toured a North Carolina laboratory
   where key components are being manufactured for a COVID-19 vaccine
   developed by Novavax.

   "I trust all Americans to do the right thing, but we strongly advise
   everyone to especially, especially focus on maintaining a social
   distance, maintain a rigorous hygiene, avoid crowded gatherings and
   indoor bars and wear masks when appropriate," Trump told a group of
   reporters traveling with him just before his tour of the Fujifilm
   Diosynth Biotechnologies Innovation Center.

   "Nothing's happened like this since the end of World War II," the
   president said of the billions of dollars being spent in the global
   race to produce and mass deploy a vaccine in record time.

   Before the tour of the plant, Trump spoke to several dozen North
   Carolina politicians, scientists, White House officials, journalists
   and Secret Service agents;Trump was the only person not wearing a mask.

   The president, who has faced criticism for what is perceived as a
   belated and inadequate response by the federal government to the
   coronavirus pandemic, said the U.S. states "largely had what they
   needed" but that all of them "are not out of the woods."

   Trump defended his administration's response to the pandemic, despite
   the U.S. reporting the largest number of coronavirus cases and deaths
   in the world.

   "We report our cases. Most of the world doesn't," Trump said.

   The United States has conducted more than 52 million tests, the
   president said, adding, "nobody's even close."'¯

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