Joe Biden: ‘Hard To Envision’ How DNC Goes Ahead As Planned Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday he didn’t see how the Democratic Party could hold its national convention as scheduled in July as cases of COVID-19 continue to spike around the country.
“It’s hard to envision that,” Biden, the leading Democratic candidate hoping to unseat President Donald Trump in November, told MSNBC’s Brian Williams. “Again, we should listen to the scientists.”
The nation held political conventions “in the middle of the Civil War all the way through to World War II,” Biden added, “have Democratic and Republican conventions and primaries and elections and still have public safety. And we’re able to do both. But the fact is it may have to be different.”
The comments came as the nation’s top public health officials predicted as many as 240,000 deaths in America from the novel coronavirus even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained in regions around the country. President Donald Trump said the U.S. was in for a “rough two-week period” as cases rose to more than 170,000. At least 3,500 Americans have died, many in New York, an epicenter of the outbreak.
Drive-thru voting? A virtual Democratic convention? @JoeBiden talks about the changes we could see to the 2020 election because of #coronavirus.
Learn more: https://t.co/4eJZK3ti2L#11thHourpic.twitter.com/5DOeH56qvG— 11th Hour (@11thHour) April 1, 2020
“We are continue to see things go up,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday, noting that he hoped the U.S. would do “much better” than the potential 240,000 figure. “We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work.”
Williams asked Biden if he believed the Democrats would be able to hold the DNC — what he said would feature “every prominent Democrat in this country from all 50 states inside a hot arena” — in just over three months, prompting Biden to throw water on the idea.
“Who...
