Biden: Virtual convention ‘very possible’
Dems presidential front-runner plans to wear mask in public
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden said Sunday that the Democratic National Convention, already delayed until August because of the coronavirus, may need to take place online as the pandemic continues to reshape the race for the White House.
The party “may have to do a virtual convention,” the former vice president said. “The idea of holding the convention is going to be necessary. We may not be able to put 10, 20, 30,000 people in one place,” he told ABC’s “This Week,” calling an online convention “very possible.”
Biden has a commanding lead in the number of delegates needed to secure his party’s presidential nomination at a convention in Milwaukee, originally scheduled for mid-July. Democrats hoped an early gathering would give the party more time to unify around a nominee who could defeat President Trump in November. But officials announced on Thursday they were taking the unprecedented step of postponing the convention until August, just before the Republican National Convention is scheduled.
The once-crowded Democratic primary has dwindled to Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Biden publicly endorsed delaying the convention before the move to do so was announced, and said Sunday that the extraordinary measure of holding one all online is still not a certainty.
“What we do between now and then is going to dictate a lot of that as well,” he said.
Biden also said he planned to wear a mask in public, heeding new federal guidelines that Americans use face coverings when venturing out. That contradicts Trump, who says he’s choosing not do that.
“He may not like how he looks in a mask,” Biden said of the president, adding that it was a matter of following science.
“That’s what they’re telling us,” the former vice president added.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams appeared to play down the mask issue, saying that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines emphasize that such coverings are voluntary and shouldn’t be used as a substitute for the “social distancing” that has kept millions at home.
“The president is making a choice that’s appropriate for him,” Adams said before showing off a mask he said he wears in public. “What I want Americans to know is, if you’re going out in public and you’re going to be closer than 6 feet to other people, you can use a cloth facial covering.”