AP FACT CHECK: Trump flubs study on masks and coronavirus
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump twice botched the findings of a federal study on Thursday as he brushed off the importance of wearing a mask to prevent COVID-19.
Trump also was off the mark in stating that Democratic rival Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris never expressed best wishes when he came down with the disease. They did.
A look at those remarks before Trump and Biden take separate stages in the evening for competing town hall-style events.
TRUMP, on his rallies: “What I do is outside is a big thing. And if you look at those, people, they really are wearing masks. I’ll tell you, I looked last night in Iowa — there were many, many people wearing masks. But then you see CDC comes out with a statement that 85% of the people wearing masks catch it.” — Fox Business interview.
TRUMP, looking out over his crowd: “Look at all the masks. You know, they keep saying, ‘nobody wears a mask, wear the mask.’ Although then they come out with things today. Did you see CDC? That 85% of the people wearing a mask catch it, OK?” — remarks at rally in Greenville, North Carolina.
THE FACTS: Not OK. The study cited, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not find that 85% of mask wearers catch COVID-19. If that were the case, the majority of Americans would be infected.
It found something quite different: that 85% of the small group of COVID-19 patients surveyed — about 150 on this question — reported they had worn a mask often or always around the time they would have become infected.
The group's exposure to potentially infected people in the community varied. Most reported shopping or being in a home with multiple people. But they were twice as likely to have eaten at a restaurant, where masks are set aside for the meal,...
