White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday dodged questions about President Biden‘s flouting of a Nantucket store’s COVID-19 face mask rule over the weekend.
Mr. Biden was spotted Saturday inside Murray’s Toggery Shop with his mask around his neck and not covering his mouth despite a large sign on the store’s door instructing customers to wear a mask.
The store’s policy follows the local guidelines established by the Nantucket Board of Health amid a local uptick in COVID-19 cases.
When pressed about Mr. Biden‘s lack of mask, Ms. Psaki said the president follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s masks guidelines but declined to address the store incident.
“The president is someone who follows the advice and recommendations of the CDC. I don’t know what the circumstances were at that particular moment,” she said.
“Our recommendation and advice continue to be for people to wear masks when they are required in establishments. I don’t know what this establishment was. The president obviously follows the advice of his health and medical team,” she continued.
Mr. Biden has been criticized repeatedly for not obeying mask mandates while urging Americans to wear a mask. Earlier this month, the president shook hands and posed for selfies while maskless at a General Motors plant in Detroit.
The president later raised his mask after someone took a picture with him and kept his mask on afterward.
In October, Mr. Biden was criticized for not wearing a mask during a dinner with his wife, Jill, at an upscale Washington restaurant.
When asked if the maskless appearances undercut the president’s message urging all Americans to wear masks, Ms. Psaki demurred.
“The American people and all of you see the president wearing a mask every time he goes out to an event, when he is sitting in a meeting and he will continue to model behavior he hopes the American people will follow,” she said.
Source:Washington Times
