Biden talks about test he had for COVID-19
EX-VP to do follow-ups in bid for White House
WILMINGTON, Del. — Joe Biden said Friday that he’s been tested at least once for COVID-19 and promised he will be tested regularly during his general election campaign against President Donald Trump.
The Democratic presidential nominee told reporters of his testing protocol during a wide-ranging news conference in which he blasted Trump for downplaying the coronavirus and thus ensuring that it will continue to kill Americans and ravage the economy.
For much of the summer, Biden’s advisers deflected questions about whether the former vice president was being tested himself as he anchored his campaign almost exclusively from his Delaware home, traveling sparingly as a precaution.
Biden and Trump offer voters a sharp contrast on the pandemic and its economic fallout.
In the Oval Office on Friday, Trump hailed a new jobs report and repeated his optimism that a COVID-19 vaccine could be available even before the Nov. 3 election.
Hours later, during a fundraiser, Biden said “I hope like hell they have a vaccine” but questioned Trump’s timeline and ability to distribute it.
“People don’t trust a damn thing he says,” Biden quipped.
Biden said Trump’s statements about an impending vaccine and the August unemployment rate — it fell to 8.4 percent from 10.2 percent in July — still underplay the severity of the coronavirus and its full effects on the economy, especially the working class.
The gulf between the two rivals extends even to masks.
The president, who doesn’t wear a mask regularly, has mocked Biden for covering his face as infectious disease experts advise.
“Did you ever see a man that likes a mask as much as him?” Trump asked a rally crowd Thursday night in Pennsylvania.