Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden continues to hit President Donald Trump on his COVID-19 response, most recently chastising his opponent in the 2020 general election for hosting a “super spreader” event during this week’s Republican National Convention.
On Friday, Biden took to Twitter with his condemnation, joining a chorus of Trump detractors and medical experts who are calling the president out for allowing a crowd of 1,500 people to assemble at the White House as he officially accepted his party’s nomination. As he spoke, those in attendance were shown sitting within inches of one another, while many in attendance also failed to wear protective masks.
“Mr. President, Americans are canceling weddings and holding funerals without family,” wrote Biden. “They’re sacrificing so more Americans don’t have to die. But instead of leading by example, you hosted a super spreader event on the South Lawn. When will you take the presidency seriously?”
In addition to offering his criticism, Biden retweeted a story from the Boston Globe decrying the White House’s failure to observe basic safety precautions and established social distancing protocols aiming to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The publication further took issue with the manner in which COVID-19 seemingly took a back seat throughout the convention, with speakers largely focusing on issues of law and order, in addition to the U.S. economy.
As relayed by The Inquisitr , Ashish K. Jha — Director of Harvard’s Global Health Institute — characterized the decision to allow so many people to congregate for Trump’s speech while displaying such a clear disregard for the risk of viral spread as “deeply irresponsible.”
“It goes against all that we know about keeping people safe,” he told CNN ‘s Jake Tapper. “We should expect better from our national leaders.”
According to Politico , guests did receive guidance from the administration ahead of the event, which encouraged them to stay home if they had recently experienced any COVID-19 symptoms. They were further advised to adhere to social distancing guidelines and told that masks would be required upon arrival and in high-traffic areas, but not during Trump’s nomination speech itself.
Nevertheless, the chairs on the South Lawn were placed extremely close together for the speech, and social distancing was largely ignored. Furthermore, coronavirus testing was not an attendance requirement for those that would not be within close proximity of Trump and/or Vice President Mike Pence.
The 2020 Republican National Convention was held from August 24 to 27 in Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina, and featured a mix of in-person and virtual speakers and events.
