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BANGOR, MAINE / WILMINGTON, DELAWARE (REUTERS) – Vice President Mike Pence campaigned on Sunday (October 25) despite a Covid-19 outbreak among his aides and President Donald Trump claimed the United States set records for daily infections , prompting Democrats challenger Joe Biden to accuse Trump of surrendering to the pandemic.
With nine days left before the Nov. 3 election, the White House cited Pence’s status as an “essential worker” as justification for his campaign trip despite exposure to his chief of staff, Marc Short, who tested positive on Saturday. (October 24th).
Several senior Pence advisers also tested positive for Covid-19, the White House chief of staff said.
A spokesman for the vice president said Saturday night that Pence and his wife had tested negative. Pence addressed a rally in Kinston, North Carolina, on Sunday and will be in Hibbing, Minnesota, on Monday (October 26).
The United States registered its highest number of new cases of Covid-19 in the last two days: about 84,000 on Friday and about 79,900 on Saturday. The pandemic, which has caused an estimated 225,000 deaths in the United States and left millions of Americans out of work, remains front and center in the presidential race.
As of Sunday night, 59,132,524 voters had already cast their ballots, according to the University of Florida’s US Elections Project.
Even as the new coronavirus emerged in many parts of the United States, Trump said at a rally at the New Hampshire airport: “There is no nation in the world that has recovered like us.” “We’re turning around, we’re rounding up, we’ve got the vaccines, we’ve got everything. Even without the vaccines, we’re rounding the back,” Trump told cheering supporters, many without protective masks or observing social distancing. recommendations.
While numerous Covid-19 vaccines are in development, none have been approved for use in the United States.
“We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we receive vaccines, therapies and other areas of mitigation,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
In a statement issued by his campaign, Biden took advantage of those comments, saying that Meadows “shockingly admitted this morning that the administration has given up even trying to control this pandemic, that they have given up their basic duty to protect the American people.” This was not a slip of the Meadows, it was a heartfelt recognition of what President Trump’s strategy has clearly been since the beginning of this crisis: wave the white flag of defeat and hope that, by ignoring it, the virus will simply disappear. it has and it won’t, “added Biden.
The outbreak among Pence’s aides marked the latest Covid-19 cases in the White House, which have included Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, her son, Barron, and numerous aides and associates. The president was hospitalized for three nights this month after contracting Covid-19.
The new infections offered a reminder of how Trump and his allies have downplayed advice from public health experts to wear masks and adhere to social distancing guidelines to combat Covid-19 transmission.
Trump campaigns in Maine
On Sunday, Trump paid a surprise visit to an apple orchard near Bangor, Maine, where he was greeted by hundreds of supporters alerted to the event by a local newspaper.
Maine and Nebraska are the only states that divided their electoral votes. Trump lost Maine in 2016 and is behind Biden by about 10 percentage points this time, according to opinion polls. But he got a vote in the Electoral College there in 2016 by winning one of his two constituencies.
“Last time, we got one section. Let’s find the other section,” Trump told the crowd.
Biden had no campaign events scheduled for Sunday. The former vice president leads national opinion polls, but the battles in battlefield states that could decide the outcome seem closer.
Meadows told reporters that White House doctors cleared Pence to travel after Short tested positive.
When asked why Pence did not follow the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to self-quarantine for 14 days after such exposure, Meadows on Sunday cited the vice president’s status as “personal essential”.
CDC’s guidance states: “To ensure continued operations of essential functions, CDC advises that critical infrastructure workers may be allowed to continue working after possible exposure to Covid-19, provided they remain asymptomatic and additional precautions are put in place to protect them and the community. “The CDC guidance does not mention political campaigns.
Explaining why the Trump campaign does not require people who attend rallies to wear masks, Meadows said the campaign offered masks to attendees, but “we live in a free society.”
Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, took four days off the campaign this month after an aide tested positive for Covid-19.
In Detroit, Harris criticized Pence for continuing to travel, saying, “I should follow the guidelines.”
Trump has mocked Biden for wearing a protective mask.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Sandra Nelson of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital said it appeared that Pence would be at high risk of becoming infected and transmitting the infection.
“With multiple members of your office testing positive, this would be considered a work-based group. As long as there is a group like this, I would recommend that the entire office transition to remote work for 14 days,” Nelson said.
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