Biden proposes federal mask mandate to stop Covid as Trump mocks reporter in Oval Office for wearing one

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he would press governors to mandate mask wearing if he is elected president.

He made the comments during a speech in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday.

"First, I'll go to every governor and urge them to mandate mask wearing in their states, and if they refuse, I'll go to the mayors and county executives and get local mask requirements in place nationwide," Mr Biden said.

He said he would also mandate mask wearing at the federal level.

"As president, I'll mandate mask wearing in all federal buildings and all interstate transportation, because masks save lives, period," he said. "...wearing a mask is not a political statement. It's a scientific imperative."

On the same day, Donald Trump mocked a reporter for wearing a mask during a press briefing in the Oval Office.

"This is Jeff Mason. He's got a mask on that's the largest mask I think I've ever seen," Mr Trump said of the reporter.

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Mr Mason is a White House correspondent for Reuters.

The coronavirus was one of the topics discussed during the final presidential debate on Thursday evening.

During the debate, Mr Trump appeared to take responsibility for the nation's failure to effectively contain the coronavirus, before immediately pushing the blame onto China.

"I take full responsibility," he said. "It's not my fault that it came here. It's China's fault."

Mr Trump said the US was learning to live with the virus.

"We're learning to live with it," Mr Trump said. "We have no choice."

He then mocked Mr Biden for sheltering at home during the virus, which is in line with guidelines issued by the US Centres for Disease Control.

"We have to recover. We can't close up our nation, or you're not going to have a nation," Mr Trump warned.

He also claimed that 99 per cent of people who become ill with the coronavirus recover, which is not true.

Mr Biden responded with indignation to Mr Trump's summation of the state of the virus.

"Learning to live with it? Come on. We're dying with it," Mr Biden said.

When asked by the debate's moderator, Kristen Welker, if he supported further lockdowns, Mr Biden did not give a specific answer, instead insisting that "you need standards."

Mr Trump boasted that he saved 2.2 million people from dying from the coronavirus, but the figure Mr Trump often recites is extremely misleading.

The figure is a possible worst-case scenario death figure that was published by Imperial College London.

The number assumed that 81 per cent of the population would become infected, and that 0.9 per cent of them would die as a result. It built those numbers on the assumption that no one would take action in response to the virus.

The study acknowledged that the assumption that no action would be taken was unrealistic.