President Donald Trump was photographed by reporters not wearing a mask as he toured a Honeywell facility Tuesday in Phoenix.
Before boarding Air Force One to go to the plant, Trump told reporters he would wear a mask "if it was a mask facility." He also said he and his staff have been tested for the coronavirus.
Signs at the facility indicate people are to wear masks at all times, however, according to CNN Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta, a White House official said they were told by a Honeywell official that they didn't need to wear masks.
Trump visited the plant as it is making N95 masks, which are being made primarily for health care workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic.
While touring the facility, Trump was seen wearing goggles, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller tweeted. Bloomberg White House correspondent Justin Sink said Guns N' Roses' "Live and Let Die" played during the tour.
The Associated Press reported that just about all Honeywell workers and members of the press wore masks. So did some White House staff and Secret Service agents. Senior White House staff did not wear masks.
Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated guidelines last month in which it recommended people wear masks and facial coverings in situations where social distancing -- maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet is not possible, such as in a grocery store, press pool or elsewhere in public, especially in essential worker facilities, including hospitals and mask manufacturing plants.
Trump’s visit was an effort to demonstrate the reopening of the country as coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise in the U.S.
"I'm not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes," he said in Arizona, the AP reported. "Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open, and we have to get it open soon."
More than 70,000 people in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center.
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