AP, Grand Rapids :
As the coronavirus hits more states, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Sunday his campaign is gauging when it may become necessary to cancel the large campaign rallies that public health experts say could be breeding grounds to spread the potentially deadly illness.
“Obviously what is most important to us is to protect the health of the American people,” Sanders said as he appeared in a series of TV interviews. “And what I will tell you, we are talking to public health officials all over this country.”
“This is an issue that every organization, every candidate has got to deal with,” he said.
Federal health authorities have been advising older people and those with medical conditions, in particular, to avoid crowded spaces, prompting the cancellation of music and arts festivals and other events around the country. On Sunday, Surgeon General Jerome Adams noted that the average age of death for people from the coronavirus is 80, while for those needing medical attention, it is 60.
But that so far hasn’t led President Donald Trump or his two remaining major Democratic rivals, Sanders and Joe Biden, to cut back on big campaign events. Each man is in his 70s.
Sanders said “in the best of all possible worlds” the three candidates should probably limit their travel and avoid crowds, “but right now, we’re running as hard as we can.” Sanders planned a meeting Monday in Detroit with public health experts and others to discuss the outbreak.
The Biden campaign said Sunday the former vice president was following the guidance of state and federal health experts on the outbreak, but there were no planned changes to his campaign activities.
Trump on Saturday said he wasn’t worried about the coronavirus getting closer to the White House after the first case in the nation’s capital was confirmed over the weekend. Officials also said an attendee of a recent political conference where Trump himself had spoken also tested positive for the virus.
“No, I’m not concerned at all. No, I’m not. We’ve done a great job,” Trump said.
