Image copyright EPAUS President Donald Trump has vowed not to order Americans to wear masks to contain the spread of coronavirus.
His comments came after the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, urged state and local leaders to be “as forceful as possible” in getting people to wear masks.
Wearing face coverings, Dr Fauci added, is “really important” and “we should be using them, everyone”.
The wearing of face coverings has become highly politicised in the US.
President Trump, who had previously resisted wearing a face covering himself, wore a mask in public for the first time last Saturday.
But speaking to Fox News on Friday, Mr Trump said he didn’t agree with a national mask mandate, saying people should have a “certain freedom”.
In the southern state of Georgia, Republican governor Brian Kemp has urged residents to wear masks for the next month.
Mr Kemp made the appeal to the state’s residents despite taking legal action a day earlier against the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, for making face coverings mandatory in the city.
Ms Bottoms has herself tested positive for coronavirus.
Oklahoma City officials are also considering a city-wide indoor mask requirement, in the absence of a state-wide mandate.
A number of US states, primarily southern states, are experiencing a surge in cases of coronavirus.
There are now more than 3.6 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US, and there have been more than 139,000 deaths – the highest death toll in the world.
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