An empty two-thirds room, several staff members infected, an explosion of the Covid cases two weeks later in Tulsa… To avoid repeating a scenario that turned into a political and health fiasco, Donald Trump postponed his next meeting of campaign, which was scheduled for Saturday in New Jersey, and which had caused concern at the local level, including among its supporters.
The president's spokeswoman announced on Friday that the scheduled meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has been postponed "for a week or two," officially due to the threat posed by tropical storm Fay. Even the Republican governor of the state had said that he would not have come, as a health precaution, while the United States recorded a new record of 65,000 new cases in 24 hours on Thursday.
Cases multiplied by two in Tulsa
Many experts were alarmed at an indoor rally in Oklahoma on June 20. Donald Trump had assured that everything would be fine, but several members of his team who were preparing his arrival were tested positive, and dozens of members of the Secret services had to be placed in quarantine.
Above all, this week, the Tulsa health authorities indicated that the cases of Covid had doubled in the region two weeks after the meeting (from 1,100 cases in the two weeks preceding the meeting to 2,500 cases in the following two). Oklahoma Department of Health director Bruce Dart said Wednesday that the meeting "likely played a role" in the spread of the virus.
Trump travels to Florida, where hospitals are under siege
Donald Trump arrived Friday in Miami, Florida, which is one of the current hotbeds of the Covid-19 epidemic and where hospitals are filling up with coronavirus patients. His movements are not linked to the health crisis: he will visit the military command for South America, then participate in an event with Venezuelan opponents in a large church and in a meeting with "supporters" for his re-election.
The American president persists in saying, falsely, that the outbreak is only due to better screening. In the past month, the number of tests performed daily has increased by 33%, but the number of cases detected by 167%, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project. On Friday, Florida recorded a new record with more than 11,000 new cases daily and nearly 100 deaths in 24 hours.
Two-thirds of Americans now disapprove of Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, according to an ABC poll released Friday, up from half in April. And polls for the November 3 presidential election give Joe Biden a 9-point advantage.
World
Coronavirus in the United States: New record with 65,000 new cases in 24 hours, deaths on the rise
- American presidential election
- United States
- Donald trump
- World
- Coronavirus