Too little, too late? Trump embraces masks in about-face

US President Donald Trump, in a shift in rhetoric on face masks, encouraged Americans to wear a mask if they cannot maintain social distance from people around them in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, after again referring to Covid-19 as the 'China virus'.

Trump was asked an obvious question during the briefing: If wearing a mask is “patriotic," as he tweeted this week, why didn't he wear one more frequently?

“Well, I do actually do it when I need. I mean, I carry the mask,” Trump responded. He reached into his suit jacket pocket and produced his for the cameras: navy blue, with a presidential seal.

“I have no problem with the masks. I view it this way: Anything that potentially can help, and that certainly can potentially help, is a good thing.

I have no problem. I carry it, I wear it ... and I’ll continue," he added.

The comments were a dramatic about-face for a president who, for months, resisted wearing a face covering in public and complained privately he thought it would make him look weak and would focus attention on the public health crisis rather than the economic recovery.

Even as top public health officials, who initially had advised the public not to wear masks, became convinced that face coverings could effectively halt the spread of the virus and begged the public to embrace them, Trump resisted.

He mocked Democratic rival Joe Biden for wearing one, asked reporters to remove them and entertained the idea that people might be wearing them to spite him.

“I just don’t want to wear one myself,” he said in April. "I don’t know, somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk — the great Resolute Desk — I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know. Somehow, I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll change my mind."

As coronavirus cases continue to rise across much of the US, Trump finally came around, saying, “I'm getting used to the mask.”

“I will use it gladly, no problem with it," he said, urging those watching to follow his lead.

“When you can, use the mask. If you're close to each other, if you’re in a group, I would put it on," he said.

But that pronouncement was too little, too late for some public health officials, who have blamed the mixed messaging and Trump's personal actions for politicising mask-wearing and fueling a partisan social divide.

Trump, sinking in polls, shifts tone on virus

Reeling from polls predicting defeat in November's election, Trump struck a newly serious tone on the coronavirus crisis by acknowledging that a disease he has frequently played down would "get worse."

"Some areas of our country are doing very well, others are doing less well," he said at his first formal White House virus briefing since the end of April.

"It will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better."

The return to presidential coronavirus briefings, abandoned in late April after Trump drew ridicule for musing on the potential for injecting coronavirus patients with household disinfectant, was part of a concerted bid to take back control of the message.

READ MORE: Global Covid-19 infections top 15 million

As cases rises in states around the country, including in politically important states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona, Trump is shifting his tone to try to get the number of cases under control.

“We're asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact, they'll have an effect and we need everything we can get,” he said.

Polls also show his response to the pandemic driving voters strongly in the direction of opponent Joe Biden in the presidential election, due in just over 100 days.

While Trump makes his latest pivot, Congress is starting to negotiate another large-scale economic relief bill to try and prop up an economy devastated by mass unemployment and shuttered businesses.

An agreement appears some way off, but in Europe, EU leaders emerged from a marathon four-day and four-night summit on Tuesday to celebrate what they boasted was their own historic rescue plan.

READ MORE: EU leaders reach deal on budget and $858 billion Covid-19 recovery

No Dr Fauci

Having long played down the seriousness of the disease and repeatedly promoted pet medical theories on how it might be combatted, Trump hopes that his more somber, realistic approach will change the dire headlines.

Despite refusing for months to be photographed wearing a mask, he now urged Americans to follow doctors' recommendations in using face coverings as a vital barrier to the virus' spread.

"We are asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask," he said.

And he touted good news on vaccine development which he said would be completed "a lot sooner than anyone thought possible."

But Trump repeated his frequent assertion that the virus will somehow "disappear."

He also raised eyebrows by coming to the podium alone, rather than with medical leaders. 

His top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, who has been attacked by Trump's team for his often less than upbeat prognosis, was not even invited.