Vice President Mike Pence was captured on camera without a face mask on during a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on Tuesday, violating Mayo Clinic policy that all patients and visitors wear masks amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Mayo Clinic took to Twitter almost immediately, writing that Pence was informed of the policy ahead of time, but later deleted the tweet.
Pence, tasked with leading the Coronavirus Task Force instantly sparked criticism online when he was pictured without a mask near masked staff members and a masked patient at the Mayo Clinic. According to the radio pooler present, all media members were told to wear masks and all but perhaps two others visible in the building were wearing masks.
The Mayo Clinic tweeted that Pence was made aware of the policy before the visit, but shortly thereafter, the tweet no longer existed on the clinic’s Twitter feed.
“Mayo Clinic had informed @VP of the masking policy prior to his arrival today,” the clinic tweeted Tuesday afternoon before deleting the tweet.
Other Trump administration officials, including Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, wore masks for the trip and roundtable discussion.
CBS News has requested comments from the vice president’s office and from the Mayo Clinic.
The Mayo Clinic says it derived its policy from the Centers for Disease Control, which has recommended, but not required, that Americans wear masks in public. Masks are meant to decrease the likelihood of transmitting the virus.
The president too has dismissed the idea of wearing a mask around others, after the CDC made its recommendation.
“I’m feeling good, I just don’t want to be doing, somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful resolute desk, the great resolute desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know somehow I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll change my mind,” the president said earlier this month.
