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GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Friday that President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis shows the importance of taking the pandemic seriously and told Americans that wearing masks is more important than being a “Tough man”.
The comments, which came as Biden campaigned in the battlefield state of Michigan, hours after testing negative twice for coronavirus, served as an implicit criticism of the Republican president. Trump has played down the lethality of the virus for months, frequently avoids masks, and has held large campaign rallies with little social distancing.
Trump’s illness brought even more attention to the coronavirus just over four weeks before the November 3 election. The president was experiencing mild symptoms and will be out of the way indefinitely while isolating himself in the White House, administration and campaign officials said.
At a union in Grand Rapids, Biden said he and his wife, Jill Biden, prayed for Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, to have a speedy and full recovery. He delivered the entire speech while wearing a blue medical mask, a departure from previous events where he normally removed his mask before speaking.
“This is not a question of politics,” Biden said. “It is an invigorating reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously. It does not go away automatically.”
Biden urged all Americans to follow scientific guidelines, including wearing masks, washing hands frequently, and staying 6 feet (1.83 m) apart. Health officials, including the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, have said that the masks are a crucial tool in slowing the spread of the virus.
“Be a patriot,” Biden said. “It’s not about being a tough guy. It’s about doing your part.”
During Tuesday’s chaotic presidential debate, Trump mocked Biden for wearing a mask at his events, even when he is away from other people.
Trump’s diagnosis is likely to reinforce Biden’s message about the president’s failed response to the disease, which has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States, and undermine Trump’s argument that the end of the pandemic is at hand. view. Polls show voters trust Biden to handle the coronavirus more than Trump.
“It’s hard to say ‘it’s under control’ when you’re a victim of it,” said Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis. “If we talk about the pandemic for the next four weeks, Donald Trump loses.”
Michigan, which Trump narrowly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 but where Biden has led in most state polls, is a decisive state in the elections.
Biden leads Trump in national opinion polls, though polls in the battlefield states that will decide the contest show a closer race. A Reuters / Ipsos poll last month showed Biden leading Trump by 5 percentage points among likely voters in Michigan.
(Report by Jeff Mason in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trevor Hunnicutt in New York, and Doina Chiacu and John Whitesides in Washington; written by John Whitesides and Joseph Ax; edited by Alistair Bell and Matthew Lewis)
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