Joe Biden: Wear masks indoors.
US President Joe Biden urged Americans to wear face masks when indoors after he tested negative for COVID-19 on Wednesday – but acknowledged that even people wearing masks can get sick.
“We have made high quality masks available for free. So you should consider wearing a mask when you’re in a crowded public place,” said Biden, who spent several days in quarantine.
The first of the US state did not reveal how he contracted the coronavirus as he generally did not wear masks indoors for months.
The president’s recent avoidance of masking up indoors was believed to be an attempt to convey a return to normalcy after two years of strict social restrictions.
“The reality is that [the Omicron subvariant] BA.5 means that many of us will get infected with COVID-19 even if we take precautions. This does not mean that we are doing anything wrong,” he said.
The president said people can reduce their risk of serious illness by getting vaccinated — as he has done four times — and taking the antiviral Paxlovid after testing positive if they are in a higher-risk group.
