How Trump's coronavirus infection changes the campaign's final weeks
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President Donald Trump's hospitalization for COVID-19 casts unprecedented uncertainty on the presidential campaign's final stretch.
There are 30 days until Election Day and millions of votes have already been cast.
Trump is being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, forced off the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who debated Trump on Tuesday night, about 48 hours before the president disclosed his positive coronavirus test, is navigating how to campaign effectively while his opponent is in the hospital.
On Saturday, the Trump team launched “Operation MAGA,” aimed at maintaining the energy of its campaign without the president at the helm. The campaign has said it will host virtual events until the vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City on Wednesday.
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Following that debate, Vice President Mike Pence — who tested negative for the coronavirus again on Sunday — will do an in-person campaign tour through key swing states, starting in Peoria, Ariz., on Thursday.
"He'll be hitting the trail in Arizona, will probably be in Nevada, he'll be back here in D.C., and he's going to have a very full, aggressive schedule as well as the first family, Don, Eric, Ivanka," Trump adviser Jason Miller said Sunday on NBC. "And we have a number of our supporters, our coalitions: Black Voices for Trump, Latinos for Trump, Women for Trump. The whole Operation MAGA will be deploying everywhere."
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien has also tested positive for the coronavirus.
The 77-year-old Biden returned to the campaign trail Friday, after saying that he had a negative coronavirus test. In Michigan, Biden offered Trump well wishes — and a broad message about the virus.
"This is not a matter of politics," Biden told a small audience outside a union hall. "It's a bracing reminder to all of us that we have to take this virus seriously; it's not going away automatically. We have to do our part to be responsible."
In Michigan, Biden kept his mask on while speaking outdoors. His campaign says it will disclose the result of every coronavirus test Biden takes. On Sunday evening, the campaign announced that Biden tested negative that day.
"We have adhered to strict and extensive safety practices recommended by public health experts and doctors in all of our campaigning — including social distancing, mask wearing, and additional safeguards," campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. "Vice President Biden is being tested regularly, and we will be releasing the results of each test."
Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, travel to Florida on Monday for events, including an NBC News televised town hall on Monday night from Miami.
Jill Biden was in the Twin Cities on Saturday. She visited Black-owned businesses and a nonprofit foundation in St. Paul, then spoke at a "Women for Biden" get-out-the-vote event in Minneapolis.
At the Minneapolis stop, supporters stood socially distanced in spots marked by hula hoops.
"This is our moment. We have to show them that we're not going to sit by and watch what happens; we're going to decide what happens," Biden told the crowd.
"Right now there are so many who want to tell us that our nation is hopelessly divided, that our differences are irreconcilable, that our communities are fractured beyond repair. And beneath that is another message, 'Your voice can't fix it, your vote doesn't matter.' But that's not who we are, is it Minneapolis?"
Jill Biden urged supporters to vote early. She also said she and her husband pray for the quick and full recovery of the president and the first lady, who also tested positive for the coronavirus.
MPR News’ Mark Zdechlik contributed to this report.
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