White House Trump, governors diverge on mask mandates Several state leaders of both parties support the requirement, citing science. The president says people need to “have a certain freedom.” A Pre-K student in Jersey City, N.J., wears a face mask. | AP Photo A pre-K student in Jersey City, N.J., wears a face mask. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he didn’t support a national mandate to wear masks but challenged “our national leadership” to set an example by them. | AP Photo | Seth Wenig/AP Photo -- President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday that he didn’t support a national mandate for people to wear masks because “I want people to have a certain freedom,” even as a bipartisan group of governors emphasized the role masks play in slowing the virus and saving lives in their states. “And I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody wears a mask, everything disappears,” the president told Fox News host Chris Wallace in the interview, undercutting the messaging from his own government -- “[T]he public needs consistent, clear, and appealing messaging that normalizes community masking,” they wrote. “At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is resurging, broad adoption of cloth face coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice reliant on a highly effective low-tech -- efforts against COVID-19.” Trump, however, has provided inconsistent, mixed messaging on masks. The president called out Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams for recommending against the use of masks before the CDC recommended them in April. “Everybody who is saying don’t wear a mask — all of a sudden everybody’s got to wear a mask, and as you know, masks cause problems, too,” Trump said in the Fox News interview, which was recorded on Friday at the White House. “With that being said, I’m a believer in masks. I think masks are good. But I leave it up to the governors.” CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW -- Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, began his “Meet the Press” interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday while wearing a mask. “I’m going to take it off for this interview,” Collins said, noting that no one was within 10 feet of him. “But I didn’t want anybody to think that we take masks as something optional for people who want to protect themselves and people around them.” Collins called it “bizarre” that masks had become a political issue. “How could it be that something as basic as a public health action, -- Twenty-eight states — and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — have statewide mask mandates, according to an ABC News analysis. The list includes Arkansas and Colorado, whose governors sat for a joint interview with Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Eight in 10 Americans said they wear a mask all or most of the time, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, including 66 percent of Republicans. And 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s -- Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican, said he didn’t support a national mandate, but challenged “our national leadership” to set an example by wearing masks. Trump wore a mask in public for the first time last week during a trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. -- “It’s not popular. It’s not something we want to do,” Hutchinson said of the mask mandate. “It’s not the first lever we pull. But it is one that, when the data says it’s necessary, we do it.” -- “There’s no governor that ran for office or gets up every morning saying, ‘I want people to wear masks,’” he said. “And that’s why, you know, Asa had concerns about it. So did I.” But “the mask mandate was really an easy decision after I saw that data,” Polis said. “I think what’s important for people to know is that this is not ideological. It’s not partisan. It’s science-based. Masks are a ticket to more freedom. It makes it less likely that businesses will be shuttered. It makes it less likely that people will die.” -- Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally, has suspended drinking at bars in Florida. But he has said the state won’t shut down again and opposed making masks mandatory statewide. Shalala on Sunday took issue with those positions. -- “We need to close down in Florida,“ she said. “We’ve asked the governor to do that. And we’ve even asked him to do the simplest thing, and that is to require masks for everyone. He has not done that. Luckily, our mayors in South Florida have done that. But that’s just a small piece, because this disease doesn’t know what county or what city it’s in.” -- “We’re very, very concerned,” he said on “Meet the Press.” “It’s not just about masks, though.” DeWine said his administration would begin running television ads to promote wearing masks and that more mask mandates could come at the county or even state level. “We’re at a crucial time,” he said. “And so this week, you may see a lot more counties under that mask requirement. So we certainly would not rule out going statewide. We’re certainly looking at that.” -- the Union” that “it’s not about the words you write on the page” or “words like mandate.” It’s about getting a majority of citizens to do the right thing, he said, such as wearing masks in public and maintaining social distancing.