Coronavirus: Trump will not order all Americans to wear masks despite pleas from Fauci

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Donald Trump has said that he will not order Americans to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of coronavirus, despite pleas for US residents to do so from the country’s top public health official, Dr Anthony Fauci.

In a segment to be broadcast on Sunday, the president told Fox News: “No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don’t believe in that.”

The wearing of face masks as a response to the pandemic has become heavily politicised in the US, largely by Republicans who view calls to do so as an affront to their personal liberty.

As the virus surges across the US, which has recorded more than 3.55 million cases and 137,864 deaths, such lines of argument are seeing states craft drastically different rules on face coverings

Amid the confusion, three top officials with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday urged the public to wear masks.

“We are not defenceless against Covid-19,” CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Cloth face coverings are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus – particularly when used universally within a community setting.”

It came as the federal government’s top infectious disease official, Dr Fauci, urged local leaders to enforce the wearing of face coverings.

“I would urge the leaders — the local political and other leaders — in states and cities and towns to be as forceful as possible in getting your citizenry to wear masks,” he said.

“Practically, when you're living your life and trying to open up a country, you are going to come into contact with people, and for that reason we know that masks are really important and we should be using them, everyone,”

States first began to draft such orders in April. However, three months later, many states are still yet to do so, with some even blocking localities from creating their own rules.

In Georgia, Republican governor Brian Kemp issued an executive order blocking localities from creating their own legislation on masks, and on Thursday sued Atlanta's mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, arguing that her call to wear a mask breached his executive order.

But with coronavirus cases soaring across most of the country, this week has seen a number of states, including those with Republican governors issue orders requiring the public to wear masks, including Arkansas, Colorado, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

However, the Trump administration has indicated that it will not federally enforce such measures,with Mr Trump only donning a mask publicly for the first time on Sunday.

He had previously said: "I don't think I'm going to be doing it. Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens - I just don't see it."

On Thursday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany added: “We leave it to localities to make the decisions with regard to face coverings, and the CDC guidelines remain the same today: recommended, but not required.”

The White House was forced to assert that Mr Trump followed CDC guidance during a visit to Atlanta, after the city's mayor, Ms Lance Bottoms, accused him of breaking state law in failing to wear a face covering.