Karen Pence Defends Husband After Photo Shows Him Not Wearing a Mask

Vice President Mike Pence (C) visits a patient who survived the CCP virus and was going to give blood, during a tour of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, on April 28, 2020. Jim Mone/AP Photo

Second lady Karen Pence defended husband Vice President Mike Pence after he faced backlash for not wearing a mask while visiting the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota earlier this week.

“As our medical experts have told us wearing a mask prevents you from spreading the disease and knowing that he doesn’t have COVID -19, he didn’t wear one,” Karen Pence said on “Fox & Friends.” She said her husband tested negative for COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus that originated in China.

The Mayo Clinic had announced a policy requiring people to bring and wear their own protective mask.

But Karen Pence said that “it was actually after he left Mayo Clinic that he found out that they had a policy of asking everyone to wear a mask.”

A video and photos show the vice president, who is head of White House’s CCP virus task force, visiting the clinic without a mask when he met with a Mayo Clinic employee. Other people in the footage were wearing masks.

The photos were the subject of social media scorn among politicians and celebrities.

“Someone who has worked on this whole task force for over two months is not someone who would have done anything to offend anyone or hurt anyone or scare anyone,” Karen Pence told Fox on Thursday.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people should wear masks or face coverings when in areas where social distancing is not possible.

Karen Pence, President Donald Trump, and First Lady Melania Trump have also tested negative for the virus.