Updated: October 7, 2020 10:43:10 pm
Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris (left) and US Vice President Mike Pence. (Reuters)
On Thursday, the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, and the candidate for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris will meet for the first and only time in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a 90-minute debate for which the Committee on Presidential Debates (CPD) agreed to introduce new rules in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Concern has grown after US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19. While Trump’s condition appears to be improving since his diagnosis, his doctor Sean Conley cautioned that he is not completely out of the woods yet.
What are the new rules?
Concerns about the debate have risen after the first presidential debate between Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took place on September 29 in Cleveland, Ohio. A statement issued by the Cleveland city government noted that the government was aware of more than 11 COVID-19 cases that stemmed from pre-debate planning and setup.
The posters hang in Kingsbury Hall, a day before the vice presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris, on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Reuters)
In a statement released on September 30, CPD said: “Last night’s debate made it clear that additional structure must be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”
Under these new rules, instead of sitting seven feet apart, Pence and Harris will sit 12 feet 3 inches apart during the debate.
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According to a report in The New York Times, Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., co-chair of CPD, said Pence’s aides had recently agreed to accept the placement of Plexiglass spacers while debating with Harris. Pence’s aides had initially shown resistance to this particular move.
According to news reports, CPD has also made the wearing of masks mandatory for audience members and will expel audience members who refuse to do so. During the first presidential debate, Trump’s family members and aides removed their masks inside the debating room, which was against the rules set by the Cleveland Clinic.
Significantly, Pence has repeatedly tested negative for COVID-19 despite interacting with some White House advisers who tested positive, the Times report mentioned.
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