Dr. Jerome Adams, the Surgeon General of the United States, told NBC on July 3 that he is not in favor of a mandatory nationwide policy of using masks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. He did not argue that the policy was wrong, but simply that he didn’t want to try it because he feared that it would only provoke people to “rebel and do the exact opposite.” He told NBC: “Here’s the challenge, if you make something mandatory, particularly for the younger age groups we are talking about, many of them will rebel and do the exact opposite. I think it’s more important from a health perspective we help people understand why these are important and we help them understand why they benefit from wearing them.”
Rather than arguing the science, he confessed, it will be more effective to tell people that college football won’t return in the fall without masking now. Or also: “If you want prom next year, please wear a face covering, it could prevent asymptomatic spread and help us overcome this virus,” Adams said. Asked point-blank if he would recommend that people wear masks at the President’s Friday evening event at Mount Rushmore and planned Saturday events in Washington, D.C., Adams wouldn’t go there: “Every single person has to make up their own mind.”
