US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday (local time) implored American to wear masks in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus and exuded confidence that virus can be brought under control in the country and economy can be rebuilt.
"Maybe we saved the life of a person who stocks the shelf at your local grocery store. Maybe saves the life of a member of your place of worship. Maybe it saves the lives of one of your children's teachers. Maybe it saves your life. So please, I implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself. Do it for your neighbour," he said while speaking from Wilmington, Delaware, after being briefed by his newly formed coronavirus advisory board.
He added that wearing a mask is not a political statement but "a good way to start pulling the country together".
"I won't be president until January 20," he said on Monday. "It doesn't matter who you voted for, where you stood before Election Day. It doesn't matter your party, your point of view. We can save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. Not Democrat or Republican lives, American lives," he said.
He added that he wants to be clear that the goal of a mask is "not to make your life less comfortable or to take something away from you".
"It is to give something back to all of us -- a normal life," he said. "And masks are critical (in) doing that. It won't be forever. But that's how we get our nation back up to speed and economically. So we can go back to celebrating birthdays and holidays together, so we can attend sporting events together, get back to lives and connections we shared before the pandemic," he said. "We have to do this together."
"We can get the virus under control, I promise you. We can rebuild our economy back better than it was before. We can address race-based disparities that damage our country. It's in our power. So let's wear a mask."
Biden on Monday announced his coronavirus task force with three-co-chairs Indian American Vivek H. Murthy, Surgeon General during the Obama administration; David Kessler, Food and Drug Administration commissioner under Presidents George HW Bush and Bill Clinton; and Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate dean for health equity research at the Yale School of Medicine, Washington Post reported.
The US is the worst-coronavirus impacted country in the world with reporting over one lakh daily coronavirus cases.
The United States became the first nation worldwide since the pandemic began to surpass 10 million coronavirus infections.
( With inputs from ANI )
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