Published 13:45 IST, June 22nd 2020
Donald Trump criticised for not wearing a mask, netizens call it a ‘nightmare’
Donald Trump has been facing backlash over pandemic response and as he delivered his campaign speech without a mask, netizens criticised him for the same.
The United States President Donald Trump has been facing backlash over his response towards the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and recently when he delivered his re-election campaign speech in Tulsa without a mask, Jeff Greenfield, a political author, took to Twitter to criticise him for the same. America has the highest number of coronavirus cases, however, Trump has mostly downplayed the pandemic. At his recent campaign, Trump himself was seen without a mask and thousands who attended were also seen following his footsteps.
Greenfield, in his tweet, said that if Trump had donned a mask and ordered his White House staff to do the same, ‘thousands of lives’ would have been saved.
‘Total failure in dealing with COVID-19’
Greenfield’s statement also comes after the Trump administration revealed that six staff members who were helping set up for the Tulsa campaign had tested positive for the deadly virus. With COVID-19 spreading rapidly across the nation, several internet users also agreed with Greenfield and said that if the Trump administration had even acknowledged the virus’s ‘deadliness’ and mourned over the deaths instead of normalising it, that too would have helped save lives. Some even called it a ‘nightmare’ and wrote, “Trump also failed to set up a national policy of testing, supplying PPE's, and contact tracing. He is a total failure in dealing with COVID-19”.
Meanwhile, as per reports, states in the US recorded a weekly increase in new cases of coronavirus. While some new cases are believed to be linked to better testing, others are probably due to the eased public health restrictions that have allowed people to gather in groups. The United States overall has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, with over 2,270,000 positive cases and 119,969 deaths. Even with an increasing number of cases, the state continues to ease lockdown measures. The health officials also believe that in the coming weeks, the cases will spike as protests over George Floyd’s death swept the country.
Updated 13:45 IST, June 22nd 2020