Newsom, former California governors urge use of face coverings
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Arnold Schwarzenegger and three other former California governors joined Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday in a video campaign promoting the use of face coverings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“This is not about being weak,” Schwarzenegger says as he holds up a mask in a public service announcement also featuring Jerry Brown, Gray Davis and Pete Wilson.
The PSA follows Newsom’s order last week requiring Californians to wear face coverings in most indoor settings and outdoors when physical distancing isn’t possible. Newsom issued the order as new cases and hospitalizations rise.
The message from the former governors — two Republicans and two Democrats — is that nobody wants to wear masks but COVID-19 is still spreading and halting it is important to keeping people safe, reopening businesses and putting people back to work.
“Just do it,” Schwarzenegger says.
Newsom said in a statement that science shows that face coverings and masks work.
“Simply put, we are seeing too many people with faces uncovered -- putting at risk the real progress we have made in fighting the disease,” he said.