CDC Director Robert Redfield: If Everyone Wore a Mask for Next 6 Weeks We Could Drive Pandemic 'Into the Ground'

On Monday CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield said if everyone wore a mask for the next 6 weeks than the COVID-19 pandemic could be driven "into the ground."

Robert Redfield
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Image via Getty/Saul Loeb

Robert Redfield

During a press conference on Monday afternoon the Director for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, continued with the theme of pleading with Americans to put on a mask to stymie the spread of COVID-19. He said that, if everyone complied with said pleading, then "over the next six weeks we could drive [the virus] into the ground."

The reward for such a proposition certainly seems tantalizing (and relatively easy) for the average citizen (even if it ultimately doesn't work), though it's likely to fall on millions of deaf ears rendering that timeline into an unattainable pipe dream. Maybe it's best ,you know, for your sanity, if you just prep yourself for indefinite lockdown.

Unfortunately you can't pick the time in which you live.

"If everyone could wear a face covering over the next 6 weeks we could drive this (coronavirus) into the ground," CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield just told reporters.

— Katie Peralta Soloff (@katieperalta) July 13, 2020

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield: “If all of us would put on a face covering now for the next 4-6 weeks, we could drive this epidemic to the ground.” pic.twitter.com/VCxLtn7lMB

— The Recount (@therecount) July 13, 2020

Redfield made these comments during a media session in North Carolina's Mecklenberg County. That county has more than seven times the amount of positive COVID-19 cases as any other county in the state, though the fact that N.C.'s largest city (Charlotte) resides within its borders is an obvious factor.

As noted by Mediaite, Redfield's comments also came on the third straight day in which the U.S. has racked up 60,000+ new positive cases. 

Mask + Social Distancing = a chance for America to turn this around by LABOR DAY.

The choice is YOURS. https://t.co/u3DLA3Z4xt

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 13, 2020

This is not too much to ask. https://t.co/wuGpt9LbOG

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) July 13, 2020

Please wear a mask! https://t.co/5bo1otf7gt

— David Kaplan (@thekapman) July 13, 2020

well, we're doomed then https://t.co/txDsijjHHE

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 13, 2020

Let’s do that then https://t.co/65MzmhV8LI

— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 13, 2020

At the moment the CDC recommends that "people wear cloth face coverings in public settings and when around people who don’t live in your household, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain." But, as of now, there's no requirement.  

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