‘I WOULD INSIST’

Biden Says He’d Use Federal Power to Require All Americans to Wear Masks in Public

The presumptive Democratic nominee said face coverings make a “gigantic difference.”

Joe Biden would use federal powers to require all Americans to wear masks in public to fight the coronavirus pandemic if he was president. In contrast to President Trump, who has explicitly refused to wear a mask anywhere near the press, Biden has rarely been seen in public without a mask since he restarted campaign and media appearances. In a Thursday interview with KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, the presumptive Democratic nominee said he’d use all powers at his disposal to force Americans to wear masks if he was in office. “The one thing we do know is these masks make a gigantic difference,” he said. “I would insist that everybody out in public be wearing that mask. Anyone to reopen would have to make sure that they walked into a business that had masks.” Asked if that meant he’d use executive power to mandate mask-wearing, Biden said: “From an executive standpoint, yes I would... I would do everything possible to make it required that people had to wear masks in public.” Biden also said it was likely he’d accept the Democratic nomination in a near-empty room.