WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will conduct election rallies on Sunday, despite a new wave of COVID-19 cases that hit targets across the United States, adding Pence’s own office.
Pence’s senior assistant, Vice President Marc Short leader, and others in his workplace tested positive for the virus, but the vice president is not quarantined because he is an “essential” government official, attendees said.
“Not only is he campaigning, he’s working” in the vice president’s office, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said, referring to CNN’s “State of the Union. “
Pence is campaigning Sunday in Kinston, North Carolina, on the east side of this key state on the battlefield, while Trump is in New Hampshire and Maine.
Meadows also appeared on the cover recognizing that the Trump administration won’t do much for the spread of COVID-19 and will instead focus on remedies.
“We’re not going to the pandemic,” Meadows said, adding that “we’re going to the fact that we’re getting vaccines, treatments and other mitigation measures. “
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and others say Trump has never tried to spread the virus, and they mention movements ranging from his mockery of dressing up in masks to his insistence on organizing election rallies with other unmasked people who strongly oppose each other.
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More: Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, took the coronavirus test
Jack Pitney, from “Anti-American: Donald J’s False Patriotism. Trump,” trump said Trump’s address “sends a message that they’re not taking the pandemic seriously. “
“Most Americans do, especially the families of the other 225,000 people who died,” said Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, adviser to the Trump debate, Pence’s resolve to cross as soon as the attendees tested positive. “You have to stay away from everyone, and I’m a little surprised,” Christie said on ABC. “This week. “
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rules require others to be quarantined for 14 days after exposure to a user inflamed with the virus, but Meadows told CNN that there are exceptions for “essential personnel” like the vice president.
During his campaign, Pence will wear a mask and practice social estating while performing those tasks, Trump’s leader said.
Moreover, Trump’s crusade has stopped across the country and coronavirus cases are increasing in its wake in at least places.
Pence’s adviser, Marty Obst, also tested positive, as did vice-presidential assistants; Meadows refused to specify the total number.
“Sharing non-public data is not something we do unless it’s the president or vice president,” Meadows said.
He said Pence and Trump got tested regularly, but declined to say if it was daily.
“We’re getting into security protocols,” Meadows told CNN.
Pence spokeswoman Devin O’Malley, who showed Short’s diagnosis, said vice president and his wife Karen Pence tested negative Saturday and “stay healthy. “
O’Malley added: “While Vice President Pence is considered to have close contact with Mr. Short, in consultation with the White House medical unit, the vice president will set his schedule in accordance with CDC rules for an essential staff. “
Trump will spend the day of his crusade in New Hampshire and Maine, two small states that can make a big difference if the race for polling school with Biden is near.
As maximum states, New Hampshire, with 4 electoral votes, assigns all those votes to the presidential candidate who wins the vote nationally.
This is not the case in Maine, which gives an electoral vote to the winner of each of the state’s two electoral districts. While Biden is a big favorite in a district, Trump has a smart chance in the district that covers North Maine, therefore from him to Bangor.
Trump won the district four years ago, winning one of Maine’s four electoral votes.
Dante Scala, professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, noted that Trump and Biden needed 270 electoral votes to win the election and said New Hampshire and Maine would likely make a difference.
“If you play enough with an electoral school calculator, you can propose scenarios where the four electoral votes in New Hampshire (and one at the time of Maine CD) put Trump in the most sensible in a tight competition,” Scala said.
On Saturday, Trump criticized the media and Democrats for also focusing on the COVID crisis.
Complaining about pandemic media policy to prevent Saturday in North Carolina, Trump said, “That’s all I’m hearing now. Turn on the TV” Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid. “
The president and his vice president, like almost every U. S. state, have not been able to do so. Report an additional increase in COVID cases, adding North Carolina, New Hampshire and Maine.
When CNN host Jake Tapper asked Meadows, “Why are we going to control the pandemic?” Meadows replied, “Because it’s a contagious virus. “