President is trying to ‘ignore away’ Covid-19 – Biden
WITH the number of US coronavirus cases now topping two million, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has criticised President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic, saying Trump “refuses to take the virus seriously”.
Noting that the number of Covid-19 cases continued to rise in more than 20 states, Mr Biden, who faces Mr Trump in the November 3 election, accused the Republican president of “trying to ignore reality”.
“Just like Donald Trump could not wish the disease away in April, or tweet it away in May, he can’t ignore it away in June,” Mr Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama, said in a statement.
“Even now, after the incredible toll our country has already paid, President Trump refuses to take the virus seriously.”
Mr Trump’s campaign responded by pointing to the president’s travel restrictions from China, saying they saved “countless lives”.
“Under the president’s leadership, the United States has conducted more virus tests than all other nations combined,” said campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh. “Joe Biden continues to lob ineffective partisan bombs from the sidelines, looking for relevance where there is none.”
Mr Trump’s campaign said on Wednesday it would hold a rally – his first in months since the pandemic shut down most ofthecountry–onJune19in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Both Mr Biden and Mr Trump held small-scale round-table events on Thursday, with Mr Biden in Philadelphia and the president in Dallas.
More than 116,000 people in the US have died during the coronavirus outbreak, the most of any country. About half-a-dozen states, including Texas and Arizona, are grappling with a rising number of coronavirus patients filling hospital beds, fanning concerns that the reopening of the US economy may spark a second wave of infections.
Mr Trump and Mr Biden have headed to must-win election battlegrounds, slowly resuming campaign activities.
Mr Trump hosted a campaign-style roundtable at a church in Dallas focused on aiding minority communities amid ongoing national protests over racism and police brutality. Biden unveiled an economic reopening proposal in Pennsylvania.
Ahead of the election, recent opinion polls have shown Mr Trump in a dead heat with Mr Biden in Texas, which the Republican won by nine percentage points four years ago.
“I know we’re doing very well here,” Mr Trump said at the event.
Speaking to faith leaders, small-business owners and law enforcement officials, he pledged to improve access to capital for minority-owned businesses.
Earlier in the day, Mr Biden held a campaign event in Philadelphia, the largest city in Pennsylvania, a state his campaign regards as crucial.
He rolled out a plan to reopen the economy, calling for expanded coronavirus testing and protective equipment for people who go back to work, paid sick leave, small-business grants, and hiring a workforce to test the spread of the virus.