Biden, Trump show opposing views as COVID-19 surges

Biden, Trump show opposing views as COVID-19 surges

[NFA] President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden gave starkly contrasting messages on Saturday about the coronavirus pandemic, taking their campaigns for the White House on the road as COVID-19 cases surged again.

This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.

TRUMP: "...That's all I hear.

Turn on television.

Covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid.” After the U.S. hit a record one-day increase in COVID-19 infections, President Donald Trump on Saturday told a few thousand supporters at a rally in North Carolina - the country was turning the corner in the fight against the virus… offering a starkly different message from his democratic rival, Joe Biden.

Both candidates hit the campaign trail Saturday… with Trump starting his schedule by voting in Florida.

TRUMP: "I voted for a guy named Trump." Then later - speaking to North Carolinians about COVID-19.

“The cases are up... You know why we have cases?

Because we test so much.

And in many ways, it's good.

And in many ways, it's foolish.

Okay?" Earlier in the day, Biden told supporters in Bristol, Pennsylvania the administration’s lax attitude to the virus would bring more bad months: “This is gonna be a dark winter ahead unless we change our ways... It’s estimated that if we just wore masks, just wore a mask, over the next few months, experts in his own administration say we'd save 100,000 lives.” Biden was addressing a crowd who had gathered in vehicles, many with their windows or sunroofs down, to avoid possible coronavirus spread.

Trump - at his event in Lumberton, North Carolina - made fun of Biden’s event… which also limited each vehicle to a maximum of four passengers.

"There's like a few cars.

And the cars weren't in a little circle, they were too close together I think.

They weren't socially distanced." The quips didn’t stop there… In Miami, Florida, Former President Barack Obama rallied for Biden… and blasted Trump for his handling of the health crisis: “Do you think he's working hard on a plan to get us out of this mess?

Well, I don't know because this week, everyone has been very unfair to Donald Trump this week… He doesn't have a plan, he doesn't acknowledge the reality of what is happening across the country.” The reality is more than 84,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported, Friday, according to a Reuters tally… with the spike in infections hitting election swing states Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.