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HAGERSTOWN, Maryland: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Tuesday (October 6) that next week’s debate with Republican President Donald Trump should not take place if Trump is still infected with COVID-19. .
Biden said the Oct. 15 debate in Miami should only be conducted under strict health guidelines and called the coronavirus outbreak that has seen Trump and other White House officials infected as “a very serious problem.”
“If you still have COVID-19, we shouldn’t have a debate,” Biden told reporters after a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
“I’m not sure what President Trump is about right now. I don’t know what his status is. I hope I can discuss it, but I just hope all the protocols are followed,” Biden said.
READ: US President Trump returns to the White House hard hit by COVID-19 after leaving hospital
When asked about Biden’s comments, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said: “President Trump will be healthy and he will be there. There’s no way out of this for Biden, and his protectors in the media can’t cover it. “
After days of mixed messages from doctors and assistants about his condition, Trump, 74, returned to the White House on Monday after spending three nights in a hospital. His doctor said Tuesday that Trump reported no symptoms of COVID-19 and that he was “extremely well.”
The normal quarantine period for anyone who tests positive for the new coronavirus is 14 days. Trump announced his positive test on Friday.
But the disease continues to spread among Trump’s top advisers, and White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said he tested positive Tuesday.
READ: White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller Tests Positive for COVID-19
“Too many people have been infected. It is a very serious problem, so I will be guided by the Cleveland Clinic guidelines and what the doctors say is the right thing to do,” Biden said of his participation in the debate.
The 77-year-old former vice president tested negative for COVID-19 again on Tuesday, a week after sharing the stage of debate with Trump in Cleveland.
Vice President Mike Pence and Biden’s running mate, US Sen. Kamala Harris, will hold their scheduled debate Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was safe for Pence to participate in the debate because he was not in close contact with anyone with COVID-19, including Trump.
‘PARTY WAR’
Earlier Tuesday, Biden delivered a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War. He said that as president he would put politics aside and try to heal the country’s growing racial, political and economic divisions.
READ: Facebook and Twitter take action on Trump’s misleading COVID-19 posts
Biden did not invoke Trump’s name, but said the country was experiencing a “total and relentless partisan war” that had made it difficult to fight the coronavirus that has killed 210,000 people in the United States and cost millions more their jobs.
“Let’s put the partisanship aside. Let’s end the politics. Let’s follow the science. Wearing a mask is not a political statement. It is a scientific recommendation,” Biden said, alluding to Trump’s repeated refusal to wear a mask for safety even afterwards. that he contracted the virus.
“What we need in the United States is leadership that seeks to reduce tensions, open lines of communication, and unite,” he said. “As president, that is precisely what I will do.”
Biden chose a dramatic location for the speech, delivering it near the Gettysburg battlefield, where the Union army pushed back Confederate soldiers in 1863, a turning point in the Civil War.
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It was also where President Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic Gettysburg Address, citing the United States Declaration of Independence that proclaimed that all people are created equal, a speech that Biden referenced repeatedly.
National opinion polls show that Biden has a consistent lead over Trump ahead of the Nov. 3 election, although the lead has been narrower in some crucial battlefield states.
In Pennsylvania, which Trump narrowly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, a Reuters / Ipsos poll conducted between September 29 and October 5 showed Biden with a 5-point lead over Trump, matching the credibility gap. of the poll.
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