One way and another I suspect this could save thousands of lives. It could mean the end of the crazy situation where it appears that millions of Trump's true believers see wearing a mask or social distancing as treachery. It's been estimated that if all Americans started to behave rationally in those matters it would cut the predicted death rate over the next few months by a significant amount.

I was watching a White House correspondent on the BBC commenting on the way that the White House atmosphere had totally changed, and instead of no-one wearing masks (the President didn't like them to) they all were.