The San Diego Unified School District announced Tuesday it is removing a letter from President Trump inserted into food baskets because it doesn’t clearly state the importance of wearing a mask to protect against transmission of COVID-19.
The letter was placed into boxes of free groceries to be distributed to some 50 million families nationwide by school districts under the USDA Farmers to Family program.
Trump’s letter recommends that Americans practice social distancing “and consider wearing a face covering in public.” The San Diego County health order requires everyone to wear masks in public.
“Science is clear: wearing a mask works to prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” said San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten. “Masks are required in California and on every San Diego Unified school campus. It is not optional, as the President wrote in his letter.”
Marten has directed school personnel to remove all letters that have not already been distributed.
Trump has COVID-19, but returned to the White House on Monday after three days in the hospital and made a point of publicly removing his mask after he entered.
His letter in the food baskets has been the subject of controversy across the United States.