The Latest: Biden gets COVID-19 briefing from health experts
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the presidential campaign (all times local):
11:55 a.m.
Six days out from Election Day, Joe Biden isn’t campaigning in a swing state. Instead, he’s receiving a briefing from public health experts on the coronavirus as cases surge nationwide.
Biden was briefed virtually at a theater in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Center for Science in the Public Interest director Dr. David Kessler, New York University medical school assistant professor Dr. Celine Grounder and Yale University associate professor of medicine Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith.
The Democrat sat on a stage with briefing materials before him in front of a screen with graphs showing the seven-day rolling average of reported daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the past four months.
Kessler warned Biden, “We are in the midst of the third wave."
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins shows more than 226,000 people have died from the virus in the U.S. More than 71,000 people a day are testing positive on average, up from 51,000 two weeks ago. Cases are on the rise in all but two states, Hawaii and Delaware.
Biden has made the coronavirus the central focus of his campaign against President Donald Trump, who has insisted “we’re rounding the turn, we’re doing great.” Biden has sought to draw a contrast with the Republican president on how he’d handle the pandemic.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE:
The presidential campaign shifts west as President Donald Trump visits an Arizona town across the Colorado River from Nevada. Democrat Joe Biden sees once reliably red Arizona as a prime candidate to turn blue, and running mate Kamala Harris will campaign there.
Read more:
— ‘We need you’: GOP hunts for new voters in Trump territory
— Anxiety 2020: Voters worry about safety at the polls
— Biden faces challenges in quickly combating the pandemic
HERE'S WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON:
10:05 a.m.
Throngs of people who attended a campaign rally held by President Donald Trump at a Nebraska airport had to wait around in frigid weather for hours after it ended before they could get back to their cars.
Thousands attended the Tuesday night rally at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. Most parked in designated lots a mile or two from the airport and were shuttled into the 7:30 p.m. event on buses. Social media and police scanner reports indicate shuttle buses were unable to return to the airport as traffic snarled and hundreds of people wandered into the streets around the airport as they tried to walk to their cars.
The last of the rally-goers left the area by around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Police tried to clear traffic and respond to medical emergencies including some people who suffered adverse effects from the cold weather, around 30 degrees.
Trump deputy national press secretary Samantha Zager says because of the size of the crowd 40 shuttle buses were deployed instead of the normal 15. But she says "local road closures and resulting congestion caused delays.”
An Omaha police spokesman says he doesn’t know the size of the crowd or the number of people who waited for the buses.