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Major League Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez knows a thing or two about using face masks for protection -- and he cheekily flashed his behind-the-plate gear in a new coronavirus PSA for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“As you know, my whole entire career I’ve been using this mask,” he says in the 30-second video, showing off his catcher’s mask. “Now I wanted to ask you to wear your mask to keep our businesses safe for you.”
He's referring to face coverings aimed at stifling the coronavirus outbreak, which has recently spiked in Texas.
The state’s minimum recommended health protocols for individuals, issued on May 1, “strongly recommend” but do not require wearing face masks in public. Although Abbott has not issued an order requiring Texans to wear masks, he and other officials have been urging residents to do so voluntarily to help slow the spread.
TEXAS HOSPITAL COVID-19 LEADER: 'THIS SURGE HAS MOVED TO MORE OF AN UNDER 50 POPULATION'
“So please, if you keep your mask on, we’re going to keep our businesses open for you,” Rodriguez, who played the majority of his career for the Texas Rangers, continues in the video. “Take care of yourself, God bless you, and stay safe.”
Rodriguez’s Hall of Fame career included 14 All-Star games, and he was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1999, when he batted .332 and slugged 35 home runs for the Rangers, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
There were an estimated 72,744 active coronavirus cases in Texas, according to the latest numbers from the Department of State Health Services, which were updated Tuesday. More than 2,400 people have died of COVID-19, according to the data, and over 84,000 Texans have recovered from the illness.
Due to the new spike in cases, Abbott put the state’s incremental economic reopening plan on pause last week.
“We are focused on strategies that slow the spread of this virus while also allowing Texans to continue earning a paycheck to support their families,” he said. “The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses.”
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday that a new rise in coronavirus cases across the South and West “puts the entire country at risk” and that new infections could reach 100,000 a day if people don’t start listening to public health authorities.
“When you have an outbreak in one part of the country, even though in other parts of the country they’re doing well, they are vulnerable,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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