U.S. President Donald Trump exits Air Force One as he arrives for a visit to a medical supplies company during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 14, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Pool
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) – Without wearing a face mask himself, President Donald Trump toured a mask distribution center in the political swing state of Pennsylvania on Thursday in an effort to highlight his administration’s efforts to fight the coronavirus.
Trump, a Republican who is running for re-election in November, has resisted wearing a mask in public despite his administration’s guidance to Americans to wear them and new White House rules requiring staff to wear them at work.
The president toured the Owens & Minor Inc distribution center, which the White House said has sent millions of N95 masks, surgical gowns and gloves to hospitals and surgery centers across the United States. Company officials wore masks.
Trump visited a mask production facility in Arizona last week and also did not wear a face covering, though he said he tried some on backstage.
Reporting by Steve Holland; writing by Jeff Mason; Editing by Lisa Shumaker