Infectious Disease Expert Laments Distressing Lack Of Masks At Donald Trump Event

Infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner expressed dismay at the lack of face masks on display during an event attended by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

CNN ’s Erin Burnett asked Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, to comment on video footage showing Trump and some of his supporters without masks and ignoring social distancing measures during his address at the Double Eagle Energy oil rig in Midland, Texas.

“The three Ds,” Schaffner answered depressing, distressing and dumb.

“That’s just inappropriate,” Schaffner continued. “It shows exactly the opposite of what all those people ought to be modeling across the country. We should be wearing our masks, all of the time.”

“Why are they there in that large group?” he asked. “They shouldn’t be gathering in groups.”

Burnett agreed.

″It doesn’t make sense. A lot of those people are pretty bright people. I just don’t understand it. It is nonsensical,” she said.

More than 150,000 people in the United States have now died from the coronavirus.

Check out the exchange here: 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  notes on its website that “cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease, particularly when used universally within communities.” 

After months of refusing to wear a mask in public, Trump earlier this month said he was “all for” them. He even claimed it was “patriotic” to do so, but was then hours later pictured without one at a fundraiser .

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), who has repeatedly refused to wear a face mask in the U.S. Capitol, tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before he was set to travel with Trump to Texas.