Biden says he'll `shut down the virus'
WASHINGTON/ WILMINGTON • Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday attacked President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as a leading researcher warned the death toll could more than double over the next four months.
Biden, 77, spoke from his home city of Wilmington, Del., ahead of a campaign trip by Trump, 74, to the battleground state of Florida with just 11 days left in the campaign.
While Election Day is scheduled for Nov. 3, more than 52 million Americans have already voted, a record-setting pace that suggests a record turnout, according to University of Florida's Elections Project.
The massive early- vote total gives the Republican Trump less leeway to change minds before voting concludes. Opinion polls show him trailing Biden both nationally and, by a narrower margin, in several battleground states that will decide who sits in the White House in January.
The surge of early voting points to both intense interest in Trump's fate and a population eager to avoid risking exposure in Election Day crowds to COVID-19, the disease that has killed more than 221,000 people in the United States and cost millions their jobs.
Biden blasted Trump's response to the pandemic.
“He's quit on America. He just wants us to grow numb,” Biden said in a speech. He said that if he wins the election he will ask Congress to pass a comprehensive COVID-19 response legislation and send it to him to sign into law within the first 10 days he takes office.
“I'm not going to shut down the economy. I'm not going to shut down the country. I'm going to shut down the virus,” he said.
In a reminder of the COVID- 19's accelerated spread as winter approaches, researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation warned the virus could kill more than half a million people in the United States by the end of February 2021.
They said that roughly 130,000 lives could be saved if everybody wore masks, according to a study released on Friday.
Trump has defended his handling of the health crisis, saying the worst was over. He has accused Biden and other Democrats of overreacting to the threat and damaging the economy.
Both candidates have showered attention on Florida, where a Reuters/ipsos poll this week found Biden moving into a slight lead after being in a statistical tie a week earlier.
Trump travelled to Florida on Friday to hold rallies, and former president Barack Obama will campaign in Florida on Saturday.