Joe Biden Says He Hopes Trump Covid Infection Wakes Up People Who Think Going Maskless Makes Them ‘Free or Whatever’

Former Vice President Joe Biden told a local news anchor that he hopes President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 infection is a “wake up call” that will enlighten people who previously thought that going maskless made them “somehow free, or whatever.”

The Democratic presidential nominee gave several local interviews in Michigan Friday, including to Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ’s 7 Action News.

Asked for a reaction to Trump’s diagnosis, and how it might affect behavior, Biden’s first priority was to wish the first couple well.

” Well first of all, our prayers are with the president and the first lady that they recover fully, number one,” Biden said.

“Number two, I think that, I hope it changes the perception among many people who thought that not wearing a mask made them somehow, I don’t know, free or whatever,” he continued.  “It’s not about wearing the mask to protect yourself, it’s wearing the mask to protect other people, people around you, it’s a patriotic thing to do.”

“I hope that we listen to the advice of the president’s own director, Dr. Redfield of the CDC. He held up a mask and said, paraphrasing, we can save an awful lot of lives, more than the vaccine if we just wear this mask the next hundred days, Biden added, citing estimates that over a hundred thousand lives could be saved by doing so.

“So it’s deadly earnest, deadly serious and I’m hoping that it’s a wake up call for the country. There should be a mask mandate,” Biden said.

Trump is currently hospitalized at Walter Reed and undergoing treatment with Remdesivir.

Watch the clip above via WXYZ.