"The biggest mistake any us can make in these situations is to misinform, particularly when we’re requiring people to make sacrifices and take actions that might not be their natural inclination," Obama said

President Barack Obama joined former New York City-turned-presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg on a video teleconference call Thursday with more than 300 mayors and community leaders to share advice and tips on how to locally face the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“Speak the truth,” said Obama, 58, according to Bloomberg‘s philanthropic group. “Speak it clearly. Speak it with compassion. Speak it with empathy for what folks are going through.”

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“The biggest mistake any us can make in these situations is to misinform, particularly when we’re requiring people to make sacrifices and take actions that might not be their natural inclination,” Obama said.

He encouraged mayors on the call to surround themselves with health experts and to not be afraid to ask questions about managing their community’s coronavirus response.

“The more smart people you have around you, and the less embarrassed you are to ask questions, the better your response is going to be,” he said.

The former president has largely refrained from commenting on politics since he left office in January 2017, following an unofficial tradition of nonpartisanship of many past presidents.

But in recent weeks, Obama has slightly leaned back into current events amid the country’s scrutinized response to the pandemic.

In some tweets, Obama jabbed at successor Donald Trump‘s strategies, including criticizing him for earlier downplaying the threat of the virus and for not embracing a long-term system of testing people and tracing contacts among cases.

Trump has become sharply more serious in recent weeks but has alternated that with more familiar episodes of fighting with reporters on TV and sniping about government officials with whom he is displeased.

By way of side-stepping questions about problems with the earlier batches of government-made testing kits, he has also claimed he inherited an “obsolete” testing system that needed to be overhauled.

He’s touted the dramatically increased rate of testing in parts of the U.S. as well.

“You should say, ‘Congratulations, good job,’ instead of being so horrid in the way you ask a question,” Trump told one reporter recently who was asking about testing problems.

There had been more than 16,000 U.S. deaths due to the virus as of Friday morning, while more than 463,000 cases have been confirmed across the country, according to a New York Times tracker.

Federal health officials have encouraged people to stay inside and avoid non-essential trips in public in an effort to slow the spread of the virus while researchers work on treatments and a vaccine.

Last week, President Trump announced that health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now recommending people wear cloth face masks when in public to help stop transmission of the virus.

Immediately upon announcing the new guideline, however, Trump said he wouldn’t be following it himself.

Obama indirectly criticized the Trump administration for rolling back a major Obama-era environmental law earlier this month in the midst of the pandemic.

“We’ve seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic. We can’t afford any more consequences of climate denial,” Obama tweeted then. “All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall.”

On Thursday, he also reminded mayors that they’re often the first leaders people look to in a community — joking that governors and presidents are hard to reach.

He reminded others on the virtual call that pooling together resources and advice was crucial in a time of national crisis.

“I know it’s making a difference at a time when I know a lot of folks feel isolated,” Obama said. “To be able to share information and best practices makes all the difference.”