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WASHINGTON (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) – US President Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19 on consecutive days and is not infectious to others, the White House doctor said Monday (October 12), while Trump headed to Florida for his first campaign. rally since he revealed he contracted the virus.
Trump’s evening rally at an airport in Sanford, Florida, will kick off a three-week sprint until Election Day, as new polls show he is losing more ground to Democratic rival Joe Biden in two states that could decide the contest. November 3.
The president’s negative Covid-19 tests were the first announced by the White House since Trump, who spent three days in a military hospital, said on Oct. 2 that he contracted the virus.
In a memo, Dr. Sean Conley said that tests and other clinical and laboratory data “indicate a lack of detectable viral replication.”
Biden also tested negative for Covid-19 on Monday, his campaign said in a statement. The former vice president has tested negative multiple times since Trump announced his positive result.
Trump, 74, seeks to change the dynamics of a career that national opinion polls and some state polls show he is losing to Biden, who is 77 years old.
Biden made further progress in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, gaining momentum in two states Trump won in the 2016 presidential election, Reuters / Ipsos opinion polls showed on Monday.
Polls, conducted Tuesday through Sunday, showed that Biden now leads Trump by 7 percentage points in both states.
Building on his momentum and growing lead in the polls, Biden campaigned Monday in Ohio, where he was once considered a long shot, as he tries to expand his reach to Republican-leaning states.
Speaking to unionized auto workers in Toledo, Biden said that he and former President Barack Obama played a key role in keeping the American auto industry afloat during the financial crisis and recession more than a decade ago.
“Barack and I bet on you and the American worker and it paid off,” said Biden, who hopes to undermine what polls show is Trump’s greatest strength, the view among some voters that the former real estate entrepreneur is better managing the economy.
Biden also appeared at a voting event in Cincinnati. It was Biden’s second campaign trip in as many weeks to Ohio, once thought out of reach, but where polls now show a competitive run.
Trump won the state by 8 percentage points four years ago and almost certainly must win it back to win reelection. No Republican has won the White House without taking Ohio.
For months, Trump worked furiously to divert public attention from the virus and his handling of the pandemic, which has infected more than 7.8 million people in the United States, killed more than 214,000 and put millions out of work.
His own illness has put the spotlight squarely on his response to the coronavirus during the final leg of the race, with Biden’s campaign increasing its attacks and spreading his campaign to states that normally lean toward the Republicans.
RALLIES CREATE CONCERN
Monday night’s rally, along with three others planned for this week, threaten to further the spread of the coronavirus, warned Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, in an interview on CNN. early Monday.
“Look at it purely in the context of public health,” Dr. Fauci said. “We know that’s asking for trouble when you do that. We have seen that when you have situations of congregating environments where there are many people without masks, the data speaks for itself. “
Trump, who boarded Air Force One without wearing a mask, has claimed that his infection and subsequent recovery have rendered him “immune.”
Dr. Fauci said that Trump is “likely” protected from contracting the virus again for a certain period of time, but added that there have been cases of people being re-infected.
“As the best part of caution, I think it would be appropriate to do that,” said Dr. Fauci when asked if he would recommend that Trump and others wear masks and limit exposure to others even after they are no longer contagious.
FLORIDA IN WORK
Trump’s rally in Florida and planned rallies in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Iowa on Wednesday and North Carolina on Thursday will be closely watched to see if the president has reformed his campaign approach since contracting the virus.
“It’s been like a racehorse that has been out the door for far too long,” Trump’s senior campaign adviser Steve Cortes told Fox News. “That horse is ready to gallop.”
The most recent polls in Florida, where a defeat of Trump would drastically reduce his path to re-election, show Biden with a slight lead. Trump won Florida in 2016 by just 1.2 percentage points.
Critics blame Trump for failing to encourage supporters at campaign events, and even White House staff, to wear protective masks and adhere to social distancing guidelines. At least 11 close Trump advisers have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he felt fine and, without presenting evidence, that he was now immune, a claim that attracted a Twitter flag for violating the social media platform’s rules on misleading information related to Covid-19.
Scientific research has not been conclusive on how long people who have recovered from Covid-19 have antibodies and are protected from a second infection.
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