President Donald Trump was front and center in the pews during a mask-free service at a non-denominational church in Las Vegas on Sunday.
President Trump attended church service at the International Church of Las Vegas, where he pulled out a wad of bills and placed the cash in a collection plate.
Pastor Paul Marc Goulet thanked Trump for helping the church open its door during the fading coronavirus pandemic.
“He gave the church back a voice. He’s given a voice to the unborn,” Goulet said, as parishioners gave Trump a standing ovation.
Trump attended the indoor service on Sunday morning alongside close aides Hope Hicks, Kayleigh McEnany and Dan Scavino. None of the four wore masks and there were only a handful of mask wearers in the crowd.
The president recently recovered from a coronavirus infection and he is now fully immune to the virus.
McEnany and Hicks both tested positive for the coronavirus a few days before Trump, the first lady Melania, and their son Barron, 14, tested positive.
All have fully recovered, and all are immune to Covid-19.
Hours before Trump attended the church service, Twitter flagged an anti-mask tweet by Scott Atlas, a member of the White House coronavirus task force.
“Masks work? NO,” Atlas tweeted Saturday with a link to an article that confirms masks are ineffective against a virus. “LA, Miami, Hawaii, Alabama, France, Phlippnes [sic], UK, Spain, Israel.”
The tweet was deleted by Twitter for violating the social media site’s “misleading information” policy, a spokesperson confirmed to the Daily News on Sunday.
A recent study by the CDC shows masks are ineffective against the virus.
According to the study, 85% of people who “always” or “sometimes” wore masks were infected — while only 12% of people who “never” wear masks were infected.
The CDC has since pushed back against their own findings by claiming some of the people who “always” wore masks removed their masks to eat in restaurants.
The CDC seems to suggest that mask wearers should never remove their masks even to eat. The CDC stated that restaurants “are locations where even mask users become vulnerable by dropping their guard to exposure.”
But in an email to WCNC News’ VERIFY team, a CDC spokesperson stated mask wearing is not intended to protect the wearer from a virus.
“CDC guidance on masks has clearly stated that wearing a mask is intended to protect other people in case the mask wearer is infected. At no time has CDC guidance suggested that mask[s] were intended to protect individual wearers.”
This is just another example of the CDC sending mixed messages to the public. If masks are not intended to protect wearers, why does the CDC urge healthy people to wear masks?
