Realizing how wearing face masks can protect people from contracting the deadly coronavirus, Joe Biden is pushing for a nation-wide mask mandate in a bid to combat COVID-19. The presumptive Democratic nominee for president displays a clear contrast with Donald Trump, who doesn't consider wearing a mask important and criticizes mandates that require people to cover their faces to avoid the spread of the virus.

During his press appearance in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden went on to say that American people should wear a mask when they are in public places at least for the next three months. Furthermore, he urged governors to mandate mask-wearing and pointed out that experts say wearing the mask will save more than 40, 000 lives in the next three months. This is only possible if people act responsibly, Biden added.

The former vice president clarified that wearing a mask isn't linked to people's rights but is rather their responsibility as Americans. With this remark, he took a jab at Republicans who claim that mandates violate people's right not to wear one, CNBC reported.

Claiming more than 166,000 lives in the United States, the coronavirus has infected over 5.2 million people in the country. The Biden campaign has released an ad supporting the former vice president's plan to combat the coronavirus.

Biden was accompanied on stage with his recently picked running mate, Senator of California Kamala Harris, who spoke after he did. She started by saying Biden's willingness to talk about things that people need to know rather than just telling them stuff they want to hear.

She said the mandatory mask-wearing is something the Biden/Harris administration will focus on. During a White House briefing held earlier this week, Donald Trump slammed Biden's push for the mask mandate, noting that "Americans must have their freedom."

The president said he trusts the American people and the governors. Several governors across the United States have implemented state-wide mandates that people wear masks in public places. The mandates have been issued not just by Democratic but also Republican governors, including some who claim to be Trump allies, in an attempt to restrict the spread of coronavirus.

Biden's move to promote this nationwide mandate catapults him on the side of the governors who have issued similar mandates and public health experts, who recommend wearing a mask in order to keep COVID-19 at bay.