Biden calls for 3-month national mask mandate: "Be a patriot"
13 August 2020
Joe Biden called on governors to issue a three-month mandatory outdoor mask mandate on Thursday, telling reporters after receiving a coronavirus briefing that experts say it could save over 40,000 lives.
Why it matters: Biden was more aggressive and specific than he has been in previous calls to wear a mask, arguing that it will allow children to return to school sooner, businesses to reopen and help "get our country back on track."
- “Every single American should be wearing a mask, when they're outside for the next three months, at a minimum, every governor should mandate,” Biden said after a coronavirus briefing he received with his running mate, Kamala Harris, in Wilmington, Del.
- “Look — this is America. Be a patriot. Protect your fellow citizens. Step up,” Biden said.
- "That’s what real leadership looks like,” Harris said when taking the stage after Biden's remarks. “We just witnessed real leadership.” The pair did not take questions from reporters.
The other side: President Trump was among the many Republicans that were skeptical about the public health benefits of masks, at one point sharing a tweet that appeared to mock Biden for wearing one in public.
- In late July, Trump shifted course and called for Americans to wear masks. But he told Fox News that he would not consider a national mask mandate because he wants Americans to have "a certain freedom," adding: "I don't agree with the statement that if everybody wear a mask everything disappears."
- The next day, Trump tweeted a picture of himself wearing a mask and commented that "many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance."
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.