Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday urged President Donald Trump to support a nationwide mask mandate to effectively launch a fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

“My prayers continue to be with the president and the First Lady for their health and safety as they are like so many American families who are dealing with Covid-19,” Biden said at a campaign event in the swing state of Florida. Last Thursday, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for Covid-19. The president was admitted to a military hospital for necessary treatment. “I was glad to see the president speaking and recording videos over the weekend. Now that he’s busy tweeting campaign messages, I would ask him to do this listen to scientists. Support masks,” Biden said hours before Trump is scheduled to be discharged from the hospital.

Requesting Trump to support a nationwide mandate that requires masks in every federal building and facility, Biden said, “Urge every governor and mayor to do the same. We know it saves lives.”

“His administration just rejected a mask mandate for public transportation on Friday. I believe that was wrong and not very rational,” the former vice president added.

Biden, who as per latest polls, has widened his lead over Trump by double digits, has been an ardent advocate of making masks mandatory nationwide. This he argues will save a lot of lives. Experts say that universal masking could have saved 100000 lives between now and January, he said. “You know I backed that mandate months ago; he should back it now,” Biden said.

“Since the president entered the hospital on Friday, more than 100,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID and this week at least 5,000 more will die in many states. I hope the president’s recovery is swift and successful but our nation’s COVID-19 crisis is far far from over,” he added.

Nearly 210,000 Americans have died due to the virus so far with about 7.5 million contracting the infection.

This pandemic and the economic collapse have hit the Hispanic communities hard, Biden said. Biden said some economists are calling this a K-shaped recovery. It means essential workers, so many of whom are Hispanic who have sacrificed to keep us going through this pandemic, are being left behind by the most unequal recovery in the modern American history, Biden said.

While workers are struggling, it’s true the top 100 billionaires in America have done pretty well, making an additional USD300 billion since the Covid-19 broke out, said the former vice president.