‘People are learning to die with it’: Joe Biden on Donald Trump’s COVID-19 strategy

Democratic presidential
candidate Joe Biden on Thursday (local time) said under President Donald Trump’s
watch, Americans are “learning to die” from the COVID-19 pandemic while
stressing that anyone responsible for as many deaths as the US has recorded so
far does not deserve to be president.

Kicking off
the final presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, moderator Kristen Welker
asked Trump about his strategy to lead the country out the crisis.

Also Read: Key moments from final showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden

“You know
2.2 million people were expected to die. We closed the greatest economy in the
world in order to fight this horrible disease that came from China. It’s a worldwide
pandemic, it’s all over the world,” Trump said.

He said that his administration is “fighting it hard” before claiming numbers are going down in the country. 

“There was a spike in Florida, it’s gone, there was a very big spike in Texas, it’s now gone, there was a very big spike in Arizona, it’s now gone,” Trump said. 

In his response, Biden slammed Trump’s response to the pandemic, saying he has “no plan”.

Also Read: Not Trump nor Biden, Twitter crowns moderator Kristen Welker the winner of today’s debate

“Anyone who is responsible for (the 220,000) deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America. He says we are learning to live with it, people are learning to die with it,” he said.

The former vice-president said he would encourage everyone to wear a mask other than investing in rapid testing, and setting up a national standard to charter plans to reopen schools and businesses. 

“This is the same fellow who said it will end by Easter, the same fellow who said ‘don’t worry it’ll end by summer’. We’re about to go into a dark winter and he has no clear plan,” Biden said. 

Meanwhile, Trump claimed that a vaccine is “coming” and will be “announced within weeks”, although he said “it’s not a guarantee” when pressed on his claim. 

“I think it will be (ready) by the end of the year, I think it has a good chance,” he said. 

He further stated that his timeline on the inoculation is more realistic, compared to official of his own administration who said that it would take upto 2022 for enough Americans to get vaccinated. 

Also Read: This is criminal: Joe Biden hits out at Donald Trump over family separation at US border

“Mine’s gonna be more accurate, I don’t know that they’re counting on the military the way I do.”

He also took a potshot at Biden for his “total disaster” handling of the “far less lethal” outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu. 

The two presidential candidates also sparred over their respective lockdown strategies. While Biden stressed he would “shut down the virus, not the country,” Trump highlighted lockdowns in Democrat states such as New York, Pennsylvania and others, saying “they’re dying”. 

The coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 8.5 million Americans, killing more than 223,000 of them, is one of the biggest narratives as voters prepare for the November 3 election.