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Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden visited Delaware Memorial Bridge Veteran's Memorial Park for Memorial Day, the first time he has left his home for a public event in two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden and his wife Jill wore face masks as they laid a wreath of white flowers at the memorial, near Biden's home in Delaware.
According to CNN, Biden told reporters before leaving the memorial: "Never forget the sacrifices that these men and women made. Never, ever, forget."
To all the members of our military and our military families, especially those who have lost their service member, thank you. We owe you. We can never lessen the magnitude of your loss, but this I can promise you: we will never forget. #MemorialDay pic.twitter.com/b5vDrYiPL5
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 25, 2020
The former vice president said on Twitter: "To all the members of our military and our military families, especially those who have lost their service member, thank you. We owe you. We can never lessen the magnitude of your loss, but this I can promise you: we will never forget."
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania attended a Memorial Day service at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore, Maryland.
While members of the crowd were distanced and wore face masks and coverings, the president and the first lady did not wear face masks. Trump shared a video of the ceremony on Twitter and earlier said "Happy Memorial Day!" to his 80.2 million followers.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020
Last week, Trump visited a Ford factory in Michigan where he was pictured not wearing a mask.
Trump said he wore a mask but at an area of the factory not accessible by the press, and said: "I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it."
The president had been asked to wear a mask by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who wrote a letter to the White House. Nessel told CNN: "If he fails to wear a mask, he's going to be asked not to return to any enclosed facility inside our state."
As reported by Newsweek last week, Trump is not the only state leader to be pictured not wearing a face mask.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are among the world leaders who have been pictured without face masks in recent months.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends wearing a face mask and says on its website: "CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations.
"Cloth face coverings may slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others."
There are 1,651,254 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 97,850 deaths in the U.S. at the time of writing, according to Johns Hopkins University. The graphic from Statista below shows that the U.S. has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world, as of May 25.
