Biden calls on Trump to send message: 'Masks matter'
Significantly less than two hours after US President Donald Trump returned to the White House after three days in hospital being treated for coronavirus, challenger Joe Biden criticized the president anew for downplaying the seriousness of the virus. "I would hope that the president, having been through what he experienced and I'm glad he seems to be coming along pretty much would communicate the proper lesson to the American people: Masks matter," Biden said at a NBC News town hall from Miami, Florida.
However in a video released soon after leaving hospital, Trump urged Americans to "get out there" and not to hesitate of the virus. Trump left hospital wearing a mask but took it off to enter the White House. Biden's NBC primetime appearance capped a day of campaigning in the crucial state of Florida, widely seen as a must-win for Trump's re-election campaign prior to the Nov. 3 election. "Folks, if we win Florida, you've won," Biden said during a youthful visit to the neighborhood of Little Haiti. "You've flat won."
Trump, 74, left Walter Reed National Military INFIRMARY on Monday after his medical team said he previously not had a fever in 72 hours and showed normal blood oxygen levels. After arriving by helicopter in a mask, the president walked up the staircase of the White House South Portico, removed his mask, and posed for pictures, sometimes giving a thumbs-up and others a salute.
Biden, who has made Trump's handling of the pandemic a central theme of his campaign, focused on the president's unwillingness to fully embrace masks. Health experts, including within the Trump administration, have said wearing masks is perhaps the very best tool for halting the disease's spread. "What's this macho thing, 'I'm not likely to wear a mask,'" Biden said at the city hall. "Be patriotic, for God's sake." The Biden campaign has avoided large-scale events for months, instead holding more managed stops with few attendees.
Trump has repeatedly soft-pedaled the deadliness of the disease, even as it has killed practically 210,000 Americans and devastated the economy. Before falling ill, he previously continued to carry mass rallies with little social distancing, and the virus has torn through the White House and Trump allies for days. Biden also visited Miami's Little Havana neighborhood on Monday, wanting to make inroads among Cuban Americans.
Polls show Biden is winning among Hispanic voters but trails the president among Cuban Americans, a lot of whom support Trump's hardline stance toward the country's communist leadership. Florida was the most important of twelve states that had voter registration deadlines on Monday. Most political analysts say Trump has almost no way to victory if he does not win Florida, perennially probably the most competitive states.
