Trump turns: Florida party convention canceled because of Corona

Updated July 24, 2020, 6:30 a.m.

US President Donald Trump sets a new tone in the corona crisis. Because of the strong virus outbreak, the Republicans’ nomination party convention planned for August in Florida was canceled. The president had previously pushed for campaign events.

You can find more current news here

Because of the “flare up” of the corona pandemic in the US state of Florida, President Donald Trump has canceled the Republican party conference planned there in late August. “The timing of the event is not right,” Trump said at the White House on Thursday (local time). “I have to protect the American people.” There is nothing more important than American security.

Trump’s formal nomination as a candidate for the presidential election on November 3 is now slated to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. The scope in which he will deliver his nomination speech has not yet been decided.

With the cancellation of the major event planned in Florida, Trump made a U-turn. Only in June had he announced the relocation of parts of the party convention originally planned in Charlotte with around 19,000 delegates. Because of the corona pandemic, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper had said that such a large event would only be possible under conditions such as wearing masks and fewer participants.

“We had a huge deal planned,” Trump said Thursday. But he did not want to find himself in the situation in which he was accused of doing something unsafe. Rather, he wanted to be a “role model”.

The situation in Florida continues to deteriorate

Critics accuse the President of the opposite. Trump pushed early in the pandemic for the economy to reopen and a quick return to normal. In June, after a break of several months against the advice of experts, he held a campaign event in front of several thousand supporters in a closed hall.

Republican party leader Ronna McDaniel said on Monday that the president would speak to delegates at the party convention. It was possible to reconcile health and the reopening of the economy – and that would be demonstrated at the party congress.

However, the corona situation in Florida has intensified significantly since mid-June. There are now around 400,000 known infections with the pathogen Sars-CoV-2 in the state with a good 21 million inhabitants. Jacksonville is one of the hardest hit areas.

In the United States, each of the 50 states decides separately which corona requirements apply, when, and when it’s time to relax. However, fully attended major events have been taboo almost everywhere.

High number of unreported infections possible

The Democrats will also mostly hold their party conference planned for August to nominate their presidential candidate. Former Vice President Joe Biden should accept the nomination as a candidate but at the original venue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it said. However, the delegates should not travel due to the corona pandemic.

The United States passed another dramatic milestone in the corona pandemic. In the meantime, more than four million infections with the pathogen Sars-CoV-2 have been detected in the country with around 330 million inhabitants. More than 144,000 people died after being infected, according to data from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore on Thursday. No other country in the world knows so many infections.

The US health agency CDC believes that there are a high number of unreported infections in many regions of the country. More than 15 million corona infections have been recorded worldwide. Around 626,000 people died in connection with Covid-19 disease.

The pandemic in the USA has recently worsened dramatically. The authorities reported between 60,000 and 77,000 new infections per day in the past two weeks. On Tuesday and Wednesday, more than 1,000 deaths were recorded within 24 hours. (dpa / kad)