Joe Biden Wants Americans to 'Mask Up,' Plans to Send Masks to Every US Household
White House's new strategy to beat coronavirus
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Joe Biden's chief of staff announced his administration is looking at sending masks to every American household.
The White House is now seeking to get Americans to "mask up" to tackle COVID-19.
The Biden team has been mulling around the idea of mailing masks.
NBC's Lester Holt asked Ron Klain about whether the idea was back on the table:
"Yeah, ya know, Lester, this was an idea that really came up last year in the Trump administration," Klain began.
"The public health agencies recommended it, the president vetoed it for some reason, we want to get this back on track."
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"We're looking at what can be done to quickly do this with the mask supplies that we have," he continued.
"I hope in the next few days, or next week, we may be able to announce some progress on this.
WATCH:
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain speaks with @LesterHoltNBC about the plan to send masks to every American.
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) February 4, 2021
"We're gonna do whatever we can to make masks more available to people."
Tune in to @NBCNightlyNews at 6:30 ET / 5:30 CT for more (check your local listings). pic.twitter.com/b0TusxmI2p
"Of course, this is part, overall, of a plan to try to get every American masked up in these first 100 days," Klain added.
"We're going to do everything we can to make masks more available to people, to increase the supply of masks, and of course, to get people to wear those masks."
But how many masks would be sent to each household along with costs has not been disclosed.
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Last year, watchdog group, American Oversight, obtained documents from earlier in 2020 detailing the US Postal Service's plans to "distribute 650 million reusable cotton face masks to Americans."
That would have been five masks for every household.
The Trump administration told The Washington Post at the time:
"There was concern from some in the White House Domestic Policy Council and the office of the vice president that households receiving masks might create concern or panic."
The Trump White House opted instead to send masks to organizations for distribution.
President Trump faced criticism for his reluctance to wear masks early on into the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Biden called for a nationwide mandate to be introduced to force all Americans to wear masks in public.
Biden announced during his campaign he wanted every American wearing masks outside their homes to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
"Every single American should be wearing a mask when they're outside for the next three months, at a minimum," Biden said at the time.
"Every governor should mandate mask-wearing."
