TRIVIUM's PAOLO GREGOLETTO Urges People To Wear Masks: 'Masks + Keeping Things Open Is Better Than Another Full Shutdown'

TRIVIUM bassist Paolo Gregoletto says that wearing a mask is key to slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus — and to further reopening the U.S.

Paolo made his comments in response to a report from the Florida Department of Health, which said the number of known cases of COVID-19 in the state rose by 9,585 since yesterday morning as the virus spreads and as more people are tested across the state. The total number of cases in Florida is now 132,545.

Earlier today, Gregoletto, a former Florida resident who has lived in Chicago for the past few years, took to his Twitter to share an article about the rise in Florida's COVID-19 cases, and he wrote: "The most unsettling part of the move a few weeks ago was seeing how little people were wearing masks down here or wearing them wrong. And Florida businesses had signs that were like 'I guess you can wear a mask if you want' until the obvious happened and now it’s mandatory.

"I'd love to tour at some point and we can't count on a silver bullet vaccine anytime soon," he added. "Masks + keeping things open is better than another full shutdown."

Gregoletto also addressed the fact that TRIVIUM will play a livestreamed show from the band's home base of Orlando on Friday, July 10. The arena-style visual show will stream globally from Full Sail Live, the state-of-the-art event and broadcast arena at Full Sail University.

"Our Full Sail event is going to be strictly the minimum amount of people that need to be there to make shit happen and mandatory masks for all involved or else they won't be allowed in," he explained. "We will only have our masks off for the performance."

TRIVIUM's ninth full-length album, "What The Dead Men Say", was released on April 24 through Roadrunner Records. The LP, which was produced by TRIVIUM and Josh Wilbur, is the follow-up to "The Sin And The Sentence". That effort marked the band's first release with drummer Alex Bent, who joined TRIVIUM in 2016.

At the Full Sail Live event, TRIVIUM will debut a new stage show that is cohesive with new album visuals and will perform songs from the new album onstage for the first time.

As previously reported, the first leg of TRIVIUM's previously announced North American tour with MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD and IN FLAMES is being rescheduled for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.