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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the Centers for Disease Control now recommends using a cloth face covering to protect against coronavirus, but said he does not plan to do so himself. 

Speaking at a White House news conference on Friday, Trump stressed that the recommendations were merely voluntary, not required. “I don’t think I’m going to be doing it” he said as he announced the new guidance. 

Responding to a question about why he had chosen not to follow the recommendations he himself was announcing, Trump said, “I’m feeling good. I just don’t want to be doing — somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful resolute desk, the great resolute desk, i think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll change my mind.”

Trump has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for downplaying of the seriousness of the pandemic, although his tone has changed in the past week as U.S. cases have soared past a quarter of a million. Still, his decision to flout the CDC’s guidelines is likely to draw further criticism from public health experts.

The CDC’s website explained that the recommendations were updated following new studies that some infected people can transmit the coronavirus even without displaying symptoms of the disease.

“In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain,” such as in grocery stores or pharmacies, “especially in areas of significant community-based transmission,” the CDC says.