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Biden calls on all governors to issue mask mandates to fight COVID-19

Former Vice President Joe Biden said all governors should issue mandates requiring everyone to wear face coverings, to slow the spread of the coronavirus. He also called on all Americans to wear masks for the next three months.

Video transcript

JOE BIDEN: Today, I want to talk about one thing-- very straightforward. It doesn't have anything do with Democrats, Republicans, or independents. It has to do with a single, simple proposition. Every single American should be wearing a mask when they're outside for the next three months at a minimum. Every governor should mandate-- every governor should mandate mandatory mask-wearing.

The estimates by the experts are it will save over 40,000 lives in the next three months-- 40,000 lives if people act responsibly. And it's not about your rights, it's about your responsibilities as an American. The fact is that as Americans are lining up to give blood, Americans volunteer all their time for food banks and local charities and supporting their neighbors that are in need, well, this is no different.

Wearing a mask is less about you contracting the virus, although it does help depending on the mask. But it's about preventing other people from getting sick. Wearing a mask will give the life of a clerk in your local store, your letter carrier, your child's teacher-- it will increase their prospects of not contracting the virus. Even though it's uncomfortable and we're not used to it, wearing a mask is going to get our kids back to school sooner and safer. Wearing a mask-- every American wearing a mask outdoors is going to get our businesses back and to full strength, long term. And we're going to get our country back on track.

But again, when I get occasionally confronted with a person in public about wearing a mask, I say, look, this is America. Be a patriot. Protect your fellow citizens. Protect your fellow citizens. Step up. Do the right thing. Do the right thing. There's overwhelming evidence-- overwhelming evidence that the mask, and depending on the type of mask you wear, increases exponentially the prospect that you, if you are a carrier and you don't even know it, that you will not infect anyone when you cough, sneeze, sing, shout. A lot of people are dying. We're up over 160,000 people dead so far.