"Because if we just try to mandate it you have to have an enforcement mechanism and we are in the midst of a moment when over-policing has caused many different individuals to be killed for very minor offenses and that is an important consideration."

He continued, "As surgeon general, I want people to understand why they should wear a face covering and they are going to be more likely to do it and more likely to do it willingly and they're going to be more likely to do it when we are not watching which is important."

Democrats have previously called for a national mandate on mask wearing, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who said last month that a federal mandate is "long overdue." Adams on Sunday also said that the administration is trying to correct it's earlier messaging on masks when officials told Americans it was not necessary to wear masks, but conceded that "it is very hard to do."

"We're trying to correct that messaging, Margaret, but it's very hard to do," he said, adding that his previous comments that masks were not effective in preventing the spread of the virus was "because everything we knew about coronaviruses before that point told us that people were not likely to spread when they were asymptomatic."

"The primary reason was because that's what the science said and I want the American people to understand we follow the science and when we learn more our recommendations change, but it is hard when people are continuing to talk about things from three, four months ago," he said.

After the interview, Adams tweeted a video of himself dancing and encouraging mask wearing, saying, "The little ones begged me to do a public health video," adding their message was to wear a mask.