Miami Mayor Calls for National Mask Mandate Ahead of Trump Trip

(Bloomberg) -- Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said a national or state-level mask mandate would have obvious benefits, making the declaration on a week when President Donald Trump is expected to visit South Florida.

“To me, it’s no different than requiring somebody to wear a seatbelt when they drive their car,” Suarez said in a Bloomberg Radio interview Wednesday. “It’s not guaranteed to save your life, but it dramatically increases your chances.”

There are already mask mandates in Miami and Miami-Dade, the surrounding county. President Trump has mostly declined to wear a mask in public.

Suarez said he expected deaths to rise as Covid-19 cases spread in Florida. In Miami-Dade, Covid-19 patients in intensive-care units climbed to another record Wednesday.

Overall, Suarez said he was seeing “a lot of disturbing numbers.”

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