Purell and elbow bumps. How 2020 campaigns are adjusting to the coronavirus
At first, Tom Perez shook hands. But with novel coronavirus cases surfacing in Broward County, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee quickly switched to elbow bumps in Oakland Park Monday as he greeted field workers preparing to fan out and register voters in Florida’s bluest county for the general election.
In Doral a few hours later, former Secretary of State John Kerry, campaigning for former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of Florida’s March 17 primary, avoided contact as much as possible in a cramped restaurant space.
“I’d shake everybody’s hand...” he said, instead thrusting his elbows side to side in the air and swiveling his hips. “It’s a new dance.”
The outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States is complicating the Democratic presidential race, but not derailing it: Over the weekend, the largest federation of unions in the U.S. canceled a Thursday presidential forum in Orlando with Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Members of Congress have had to “self-isolate” after attending political conferences also attended by confirmed COVID-19 patients. And the Florida House paused its business Monday to disinfect the chamber over coronavirus concerns.
But with the November election eight months away and primary elections still ahead, the Democratic Party and the Biden and Sanders campaigns say they are adjusting to life amid coronavirus concerns on the primary campaign trail.
“We’re obviously monitoring the situation closely,” Perez told the Miami Herald Monday, saying that a March 15 debate in Arizona is expected to go on as scheduled. “I’m confident we can put it on. We’ve been with public health officials, talking to the experts, making sure we take the necessary precautions.”
“There’s going to be more Purell than you’ve ever seen before,” Perez said.
He added that the DNC has been in contact with federal authorities and officials in Wisconsin about the party’s July convention in Milwaukee. “We’re monitoring the situation on the ground and we’re going to continue to do that in a transparent and effective way.”
Perez was in Broward County — where there are three presumptive coronavirus cases — to highlight the Democratic Party’s outreach in Florida, one of several battleground states in which Democrats are spending millions of dollars to register and engage voters. Perez said the state and national party together have hired more than 90 workers talking to voters across the state.
The Florida Democratic Party continues to say it is on pace to meet its goal of registering 200,000 new Democrats by the summer.
Also Monday, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida, announced she’s joining Miami Gardens-area state Sen. Oscar Braynon to lead a parallel get-out-the-vote effort called Organizing Together 2020 Florida. Ashley Walker, a veteran political operative in Florida advising the effort, said they’re watching closely and prepared to adjust as federal and state officials issue new alerts but have not been affected yet.
“We don’t have time to wait until the Democratic convention begins” to begin organizing, Fried told reporters on a conference call.
Former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward Democrat and congresswoman, told Miami Herald news partner WLRN following a COVID-19 roundtable with health officials Monday morning that she doesn’t believe coronavirus will keep people from voting in the Florida primary, or pose exposure risks.
But the nuts and bolts of campaigning — from kissing babies to holding rallies — is becoming complicated as the disease spreads. Nationally, by late Monday, there had been 419 cases of coronavirus infection and 19 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The Florida Department of Health had identified 17 Florida residents who tested positive, either in or out of state, as well as one non-Florida resident in the state. More than 100 test results are pending.
For now, the Biden campaign said it is talking to federal and local officials about the types of events it holds and how they’re planned. The Sanders campaign said it is consulting with state health agencies ahead of the senator’s visits.
“We will not endanger the health of anybody in this country,” Sanders said Sunday during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union.
Sanders, Biden and President Donald Trump are all over the age of 70, placing them at greater risk of complications if they contract coronavirus, according to the CDC.
Trump has blasted Democrats and the press, calling criticism of his administration’s handling of the outbreak a “hoax” during a recent rally. On Monday, he shook hands with fans waiting at Orlando Sanford International Airport before heading to a fundraiser.
“Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on,” he tweeted Monday.
But the disease has come close to his administration after an attendee of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, tested positive, causing members of Congress, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a close Trump confidant, to announce that they are self-isolating for two weeks. Gaetz flew on Air Force One with Trump Monday.
Kerry, who made four public appearances for the Biden campaign Monday in South Florida, took shots at Trump Monday during a visit to Pure Joy Creative Fresh Kitchen in Doral. He noted that Trump has given out inaccurate information about the coronavirus and has been contradicted at times by his own health experts.
He also encouraged people in the audience to take the spread of the virus seriously.
“There are people walking around in our country now who are infected and don’t know it. And they’re going to pass it on to people,” Kerry said, assuring the audience after coughing that his throat was merely dry from speaking so much. “That’s happening now.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2020 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Purell and elbow bumps. How 2020 campaigns are adjusting to the coronavirus."
