U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not consider a national mandate requiring people to wear masks to combat the spread of the coronavirus. 

Asked in an interview on Fox News to be broadcast on Sunday if he would consider a mandate, Trump said: "No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don't believe in that." 

Trump has been reluctant to wear a face mask, with a report in May suggesting that he feared doing so would "send the wrong message" and harm his re-election chances. The U.S. president wore a mask in public for the first time last week. 

The number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has risen to over 3.6 million, and the death toll has surpassed 139,000. Both numbers are the largest in the world. Health authorities reported 78,000 new cases across the country on Thursday, according to the database run by Johns Hopkins University. 

Nevertheless, Trump has urged a return to normal, stressing the importance of reigniting the economy. He has also made reopening public schools a focus of his re-election campaign, urging school districts to offer a full schedule of classes. 

According to a CNN report on Friday, the White House is blocking U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and other officials from the agency from testifying before a House Education and Labor Committee hearing on reopening schools next week. 

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U.S. divided over mask wearing

Divided Americans clashed anew over mask mandates on Friday, with states and localities choosing conflicting strategies in the face of surging coronavirus cases. 

Some mayors have imposed mandatory mask orders. But in Georgia, the state's Republican governor Brian Kemp sued Atlanta's mayor for issuing a face covering directive.  

"While we all agree wearing a mask is effective, I am confident Georgians do not need a mandate to do the right thing," Kemp said. His lawsuit seeks to overturn not just the mask order but Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' return to a stricter lockdown.  

Bottoms, a Democrat who has herself tested positive for coronavirus, believes Kemp's decision was political retaliation, telling CNN the suit came one day after Trump visited Atlanta when she pointed out he was breaking the law by being maskless at the airport. 

Similar conflicts abound elsewhere. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott finally ordered a statewide mask order after seeing cases surge, but he has been condemned through censure resolutions passed by multiple local Republican officials. They accuse him of violating the party's principles of separation of powers, free enterprise and personal responsibility, according to The Texas Tribune.  

The Democratic mayor of Houston, the state's largest city, wants to move back into lockdown but the governor refuses.  

Many sheriffs in California, North Carolina and elsewhere have said they won't enforce mask regulations in their counties. "Do not be a sheep," a sheriff in the state of Washington said in late June. 

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Fauci urges leaders to be 'as forceful as possible' on masks

The mask defiance has touched a nerve among medical professionals. More than 1,200 of them, including 161 nurses, have died from the coronavirus in the United States, according to the National Nurses United union. 

"Everybody saying that (wearing a mask) is a violation of their freedom – no, it's not because a seat belt is mandated and that's to save your life," said Sharon Taylor, 48, a cardiothoracic nurse in Atlanta. 

Top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Friday said state and local leaders should be "as forceful as possible" on wearing masks. 

"I would urge the leaders – the local political leaders in states and cities and towns – to be as forceful as possible in getting your citizenry to wear masks," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with the Chamber of Commerce Foundation. 

"When you're living your life and trying to open up the country, you are going to come into contact with people. And for that reason, we know that masks are really important, and we should be using them everywhere," he stressed. 

Trump's ratings have plummeted since the start of the pandemic. Only 38 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the crisis, against 51 percent in March, according to a Washington Post poll published Friday. 

More surprisingly, there are signs that Trump's base is leaving him on the issue of COVID-19, another CNN report said on Thursday, noting that latest polls show his coronavirus approval rating with Republicans is dropping below 80 percent. 

Trump's overall approval rating among Republicans has regularly hit 90 percent since the beginning of 2018 and has never been lower than 85 percent, according to Gallup. 

(With input from Reuters, AFP)