Trump tests negative
President Trump tests negative for COVID on consecutive days.
CINCINNATI— Joe Biden campaigned Monday in Ohio, attempting to expand the battleground map and keep President Donald Trump on the defensive in a state thought to be out of reach for Democrats after Trump's wide margin of victory there four years ago.
Just a week after being released from the hospital, Trump — whose doctor said Monday for the first time that he had received a negative test for COVID-19 — returned to the campaign trail for his first large rally since announcing Oct. 1 that he was infected as he tries to stage a late comeback in the election's final stretch
The president, facing a stubborn deficit in national and battleground state polling, headlined a rally in Sanford, Florida — the first stop in a busy week that will include events in Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina and Wisconsin. The president tweeted, “We have far more support and enthusiasm than even in 2016.”
In Toledo, the Democratic presidential nominee, stressed an economic message and touted his own record while casting Trump as having abandoned working-class voters who helped him win Rust Belt states that put him in the White House in 2016.
Biden addressed United Auto Workers who represent a local General Motors' powertrain plant. The former vice president spoke in a parking lot with about 30 American-made cars and trucks arrayed nearby, and he struck a decidedly populist note, praising unions and arguing that he represented working-class values while the Republican Trump cared only about impressing the Ivy League and country club set.
“I don't measure people by the size of their bank account,” Biden said. “You and I measure people by the strength of their character, t heir honesty, t heir courage.”
Biden highlighted his role as vice president as the Obama administration rescued the U.S. auto industry after the 2008 financial collapse. President George W. Bush signed the aid package after the 2008 election, but the Obama administration managed most of the rescue program.
“The auto industry that supported 1 in 8 Ohioans was on the brink,” Biden said at the drive-in rally, eliciting horn honks from people listening from their vehicles. “Barack and I bet on you, and it paid off.”
Trump's robust schedule underscores the work he needs to do as he tries to win over voters just three weeks before Election Day. And it comes amid stillunanswered questions about the impact so much travel so soon could have on the 74-year-old president's health. The progression of COVID-19 is often unpredictable, and there can be long-term complications.
After Air Force One lifted off from Joint Base Andrews, the president's doctor released an update on his health that said Trump had tested negative for the virus — and had done so on consecutive days.
The president's doctor, Navy Cmdr. Scott Conley, said that the tests, taking in conjunction with other data, including viral load, have led him to conclude that Trump was not contagious.
For days, the White House had sidestepped questions as to whether Trump had tested negative. Conley over the weekend said that the president met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by “currently recognized standards,” Trump was no longer considered a transmission risk.
Trump, eager to return to campaigning and show the world that he is no longer sidelined by a virus that he has consistently played down and that has killed 215,000 people across the nation, says he is now “immune” to the virus — a claim that is impossible to prove given limitations in what scientists know about the coronavirus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, said Monday on CNN that those who recover from COVID-19 are likely to be immune for a limited period of time, but there are cases emerging of people getting reinfected weeks or months later.
Fauci, speaking as Trump was prepared to depart the White House for Florida, questioned the wisdom of holding such an event.
He noted that test positivity rates are climbing in parts of the Sun Belt.
“We know that that is asking for trouble when you do that,” Fauci said.
Florida is seen as critical to Trump's reelection chances. Trump narrowly beat his 2016 rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, in the state by just over 112,000 votes. Some recent polls have suggested a close race in the state, while others have put Biden ahead.
Trump carried Ohio over Clinton by 8 percentage points in 2016, but recent polls show this year's presidential race tightening in the state.
The Biden campaign has increased advertising in Ohio lately, even as Trump has scaled back his efforts in the state and elsewhere.
Biden's perceived increases in support have largely come as the president has seen his backing slip in cities including Cincinnati and Cleveland — but he is looking to cancel that out by further expanding his already strong support among voters in rural areas.