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CNN  — 

Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday that a new statewide mandate requiring residents to wear face masks will go into effect later this week in response to a new surge of coronavirus cases.

The rule, which will go into place Friday, will require masks in any indoor public space, as well as outdoors if social distancing can’t be maintained. Any facial covering that fits over the nose and mouth will be permitted.

“I think of these face coverings, in some sense, as a statement,” Inslee said during a news conference announcing the rule. “It’s a statement that when you wear it, it means you care about people, because it means you want to reduce the risk that you are going to infect another person.”

The step makes Washington just the latest state to require people to wear masks when out in public. Washington is among the 25 US states that, as of Tuesday, are experiencing a higher rate of new cases compared with last week.

Nationwide, more than 2.3 million people have been infected with coronavirus and almost 121,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Public health officials have emphasized the importance of face coverings amid the country’s reopening, given that people without symptoms could unknowingly transmit Covid-19. The coverings are primarily to prevent people who have the virus from infecting others.

Earlier guidance from US officials didn’t recommend widespread masking, but in April, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended face coverings for the general public in places where social distancing is difficult to maintain, like grocery stores.

At the time, the CDC cited growing evidence that people could spread coronavirus without feeling sick.

President Donald Trump, however, has sought to politicize the wearing of masks – refusing to wear one during factory tours and even sharing a tweet mocking former Vice President Joe Biden for wearing one at a Memorial Day ceremony.

“I don’t think I’m going to be doing it,” Trump said during an April news conference. “Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens – I just don’t see it.”

Inslee touted masks Tuesday as “something that’s not expensive, readily available, allows us to do our business and enjoy ourselves – that actually can save people’s lives.”

Until a vaccine is developed, he said, “this really is going to be our best defense.”