Vice President Mike Pence tours Mayo Clinic without coronavirus mask even though he was told to wear one

Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday toured the Mayo Clinic without wearing a mask despite that renowned medical facility telling him that masks are required for visitors and everyone else there to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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Video from a journalist pool camera at the Mayo Clinic at one point shows that 10 people in the area around Pence, including a patient, were wearing masks and personal protective equipment.

Pence leads President Donald Trump‘s coronavirus task force.

The Mayo Clinic, which is located in Rochester, Minn., is requiring all patients, visitors and staff to wear a face covering or mask to slow the spread of Covid-19.

It said in a Twitter post that it had informed Pence of its policy mandating mask before he toured the facility.

About a half hour after that tweet was posted, it was deleted by the Mayo Clinic.

Other video shows people wearing masks when they greeted Pence at an airport. The vice president was not wearing a mask when he got off his plane and headed to the Mayo Clinic.

CNBC has requested comment from Pence’s office and the Mayo Clinic.

Trump three weeks ago said that new guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all Americans to wear masks in public settings, to help reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

But Trump said he would not follow that guidance himself.

“I just don’t want to wear one myself, it’s a recommendation,” Trump said at the time.

“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, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, I don’t see it for myself.”

– Additional reporting by Tucker Higgins

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