During the final days of campaigning Joe Biden called out President Donald Trump saying he "has just given up" on fighting the coronavirus, and he says the American people deserve better. Video / AP
There are no crowds at Disneyland, still shut down by the coronavirus. Fewer fans attended the World Series baseball championship this year than at any time in the past century. Big concerts are cancelled.
But it's a different story in Trumpland. Thousands of President Donald Trump's supporters regularly cram together at campaign rallies around the country — masks optional and social distancing frowned upon.
Trump rallies are among the nation's biggest events being held in defiance of crowd restrictions designed to stop the virus from spreading. This at a time when public health experts are advising people to think twice even about inviting many guests for Thanksgiving dinner.
"It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, when you have congregate settings where people are crowded together and virtually no one is wearing a mask, that's a perfect setup to have an outbreak of acquisition and transmissibility," Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, recently told Yahoo News.
The Trump campaign, which distributes masks and hand sanitiser at its rallies, says those who attend are peaceful protesters who, just like Black Lives Matter demonstrators, have a right to assemble. The president says he wants to get the country back to normal.
Some states have fined venues that host Trump rallies for violating caps on crowd size. But the rallies continue — even as the US sees cases spike, especially in the Midwest. The nation posted a record high number of new infections last week — nearly 500,000.
Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump. Photo / AP
Ysabel Benejam, 69, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, drove about 90 minutes to Lansing and waited more than four hours in rainy, near-freezing temperatures to see Trump on Wednesday.
"I'm not afraid at all," said Benejam, wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat.
"We need to step back into normality."
Trump supporters pack in together, many not wearing masks, at upcoming rally in Tampa, Florida. Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" plays on loudspeakers. pic.twitter.com/4aLmQPVUxU
Democrat Joe Biden, in contrast, has shunned rallies and instead holds online and drive-in events where people honk their horns to show support. He calls the Trump rallies "super-spreader events" and says he's listening to the warnings of public health experts.
Since February 7, when Trump told author Bob Woodward that he knew the coronavirus was airborne and deadlier than the flu, the president has hosted more than 50 rallies in more than two dozen states. They were halted during most of March, April and May because of the pandemic. After they resumed in late June, they were held primarily outdoors at airports.
Mask use is spotty. Some people cover their mouths but not their noses. And by the end of Trump's hour-plus speeches, some masks are slung low around people's chins. The campaign makes a point to ask people sitting behind Trump — and likely to be captured on camera — to wear masks, but they don't always comply.
First Lady Melania Trump opening the President's rally in Tampa.
One resident was not wearing a mask as he approached the security line at Trump's rally Pennsylvania. He said he believes the virus is being hyped to hurt Trump's chance of reelection and to "bash the economy — destroy it".
"If I need to put a mask on, I'll put it on," he said. "If I don't, I won't put it on."
But not all locals are happy to have Trump come to town.
The president held a rally September 25 in Newport News, Virginia, even though public health officials warned that it would violate Democratic Governor Ralph Northam's executive order generally banning gatherings of more than 250 people.
The Trump rallies have irked Democrats in battleground states, including Christopher Gibbs, a farmer in Maplewood, Ohio, who voted for Trump in 2016 but now supports Biden.
Gibbs is president of a new group called Rural America 2020, which sponsored dozens of billboards around the country to elevate issues important to rural residents. After the president returned to the campaign trail, the group decided to repurpose the billboards and use them to warn residents about the risks of his events.
The group also had a plane tow a long banner over Wisconsin ahead of a Trump rally. It said: "Warning! Superspreader Trump Visiting WI. Mask Up!"
