Coronavirus: Melania Trump shows the way by wearing face mask

WASHINGTON • In a message on Twitter accompanied by a picture of her face partly covered by a medical mask, US First Lady Melania Trump has urged Americans to protect themselves from the coronavirus by wearing face coverings in public, an image all the more striking because it contrasted with her husband's mixed messages on the subject.

"As the CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) continues to study the spread of the Covid-19, they're recommending people wear cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures can be difficult to maintain," she said on Thursday in an accompanying video, citing grocery stores and pharmacies as examples.

"Remember, this does not replace the importance of social distancing," she added.

After a slow start in acknowledging the virus, she has since issued a string of public service videos meant to echo public health guidelines on social distancing and hand-washing.

But in President Donald Trump's lengthy televised coronavirus news briefings, he offered his own interpretation of the rules: He has told reporters that he would not be interested in wearing a mask unless he deemed it important.

Instead, everyone who comes into close contact with Mr Trump must now be tested for the virus, according to White House officials.

"I don't know, somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don't know - somehow I don't see it for myself. I just - I just don't. Maybe I'll change my mind, but this will pass, and hopefully it'll pass very quickly," he told reporters yesterday.

In recent days, Mrs Trump has been more engaged with the issue, including by fielding calls from her counterparts in France and Italy to discuss steps to defeat the virus.

NYTIMES