Melania Trump wore a mask in a new photo tweeted from the first lady's account Thursday as part of a message urging fellow Americans to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended coronavirus guidelines.
"As the CDC continues to study the spread of COVID-19, they recommend people wear cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures can be difficult to maintain, such as grocery stores and pharmacies. Remember, this does not replace the importance of social distancing. It's another recommended guideline to keep us all safe," she said in a video posted to Twitter just before the photo post.
The first lady has repeatedly shared similar public service announcements on CDC guidelines on Twitter, where she has 13.7 million followers, but this is the first time she has sported a face covering herself.
Her husband, President Donald Trump, has said he has no plans to use one.
"I just don't want to wear one myself. It's a recommendation," he told reporters last week. "Somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, dictators, kings, queens, I don't know, I don't see it for myself."
The president has mostly stayed in the White House since the coronavirus crisis worsened, and the Secret Service has been screening people who will be in proximity with him to make sure they're not ill. The White House announced this month that "anyone who is expected to be in close proximity" to Trump or Vice President Mike Pence would receive a test for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
