Dr. Deborah Birx, who as a Trump administration official helped lead the country’s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, says masks do not need to be mandated now.

“We don’t need to mandate,” Birx, who was a White House COVID response coordinator, told Newsmax on Saturday.

Birx was responding to an increasing number of hospitals and businesses requiring masks amid an increase in COVID-19 hospital admissions across the U.S.