Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 16, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba <§> < > C M K PAGE A9 ■e- i ■ i ■ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 • WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I WORLD A 9 U.S. president's performance in Philadelphia offers glimpse of what to expect during debates Trump denies downplaying virus despite evidence ZEKE MILLER AND KEVIN FREKING Philadelphia — Fielding compelling questions about voters’ real-world problems, U.S. President Donald Trump denied during a televised town hall Tuesday he had played down the threat of the corona-virus earlier this year, although there is an audio recording of him stating he did just that. Trump, in what could well be a preview of his performance in the presidential debates less than two weeks away, cast doubt on the widely accepted scientific conclusions of his own administration strongly urging the use of face coverings and seemed to bat away the suggestion the nation has racial inequities. “Well, I hope there’s not a race problem,” Trump said when asked about his campaign rhetoric seeming to ignore the historical injustices carried out against Black Americans. Face-to-face with everyday voters for the first time in months, as his three live showdowns with Democrat Joe Biden loom, Trump was pressed on his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and why he doesn’t more aggressively promote the use of masks to reduce the spread of the disease. “There are people that don’t think masks are good,” Trump said, though his own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly urges their use. The event, hosted by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, was a warmup of sorts before Trump faces Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the first presidential debate on Sept. 29. Taped at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, it featured Trump taking questions from an audience of just 21 voters to comply with state and local coronavirus regulations. Trump sought to counter his admission to journalist Bob Woodward that he was deliberately “playing it down” when discussing the threat of COVID-19 to Americans earlier this year. Despite audio of his comments being released, Trump said: “Yeah, well, I didn’t downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.” “My action was very strong,” Trump EVAN VUCCI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS U.S. President Donald Trump addressed poignant questions from uncommitted voters during a Tuesday town hall in Philadelphia, Pa. with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. added. “I’m not looking to be dishonest. I don’t want people to panic.” Trump also insisted he was not wrong when he praised China’s response to the virus in January and February, saying he trusted Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader. “He told me that it was under control, that everything was and it turned out to be not true,” Trump said, The questions from uncommitted voters were pointed and poignant: a diabetic man who said he felt he’d been thrown “under the bus” by mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic; a Black woman with a disease that left her un- insurable until the Obama health care law came along who is worried that she could lose coverage again; a Black pastor who questioned Trump’s campaign motto to “Make America Great Again.” “When has America been great for African-Americans in the ghetto of America?” the pastor asked. Trump has been unusually mum on his preparations ahead of the first debate, set to take place in Cleveland. On Tuesday, he told Fox News he believes his day job is the best practice for his three scheduled showdowns with Biden. “Well, I sort of prepare every day by just doing what I’m doing,” Trump said. He noted he had been in California on Monday and had been to other states before that to make the point that he’s getting out and about more than Biden. Trump, in the Fox interview, lowered expectations for his Democratic opponent’s performance, judging Biden “a disaster” and “grossly incompetent” in the primary debates. He assessed Biden as “OK” and “fine” in his final one-on-one debate with Bernie Sanders before clinching the nomination. Trump’s rhetoric on Biden marked a departure from the traditional efforts by candidates to talk up their rivals’ preparation for televised debates, in hopes of setting an unattainably high bar for their performance. The second of the three scheduled debates, set to be held in Miami on Oct. 15, will feature a similar town-meeting style. Biden is to have his own opportunity to hone his skills taking questions from voters Thursday, when he participates in a televised town hall hosted by CNN. — The Associated Press Experts worry as U.S. outbreak restrictions eased or violated MICHELLE R. SMITH, BOBBY CAINA CALVAN AND WILSON RING PROVIDENCE, R.I. — State and local officials around the U.S. are rolling back social-distancing rules again after an abortive effort over the summer, allowing bars, restaurants and gyms to open. Fans are gathering mask-free at football games. U.S. President Donald Trump is holding crowded indoor rallies. While some Americans may see such things as a welcome step closer to normal, public health experts warn the U.S. is setting itself up for failure — again. “Folks are becoming very cavalier about the pandemic,” said Mark Rupp, professor and chief of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Nebraska’s governor ended nearly all of his state’s restrictions on Monday, even with new cases of the coronavirus on the rise. “I think it is setting us up for further transmission and more people getting ill and, unfortunately, more people dying,” Rupp said. The virus is blamed for more than 6.5 million confirmed infections and 195,000 deaths in the U.S., by far the highest totals of any country, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. While case numbers have fallen from a peak average of 67,000 new infections per day in late July to about 36,000 now, the numbers remain staggeringly high. Deaths are running at about 750 a day, down from a peak of over 2,200 in late April. In recent days, Mississippi has allowed restaurants to expand their customer capacity to 75 per cent. New Jersey reopened gyms and indoor dining at restaurants, though with limited capacity. Michigan’s governor allowed gyms to reopen and organized sports to resume. County commissioners in Pinellas County, Fla., on Thursday are set to discuss whether to repeal their mask ordinance. Public health experts noted it is safe to resume certain activities in communities where there are low levels of infection. The nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, appeared via video at Vermont Gov. Phil Scott’s virus briefing Tuesday and praised the state’s response and its steps to reopen safely. He chalked it up to Vermont’s emphasis on wearing masks, avoiding crowds and taking other simple precautions. Elsewhere, experts said, case counts are too high to resume higher-risk activities, such as going to bars, gyms, theatres and stadiums, participating in close contact sports or eating inside a restaurant. In most communities in Florida, bars were allowed to reopen at 50 per cent capacity Monday, while keeping some precautions in place. Florida’s three biggest counties — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — are keeping their bars closed because of high case numbers. Even in places where drinking estab- lishments have been given the OK to reopen, some owners and customers are hesitant. At The Leon Pub, a smoky bar a mile up the road from Florida’s capitol in Tallahassee, the Monday night crowd was sparse, as it has been for much of the long, oppressive summer. “It’s been crickets and tumbleweeds,” said bartender Lauren Bryant. Among the few there were Allie Preston and her husband. “We’ve been cooped up for a while. It was nice to have normalcy,” she said. Florida bars were shuttered on St. Patrick’s Day in March, allowed to reopen in June, then ordered closed again about two weeks later as virus cases surged. The Leon Pub was allowed to reopen in July because it had a restaurant licence. It’s not just government officials who are letting up on restrictions. In Milwaukee, the Roman Catholic archbishop said he will no longer excuse people from in-person worship unless they are ill or are caring for someone who is sick. Meanwhile, cases in Wisconsin are on the rise. Some local officials are cracking down as they see cases climb. In Wichita, Kansas, health officials made bar curfews and mask wearing mandatory. In Framingham, Mass., officials said they have started issuing US$500 fines to property owners who violate the rules on gatherings and mask-wearing. Public health experts said they worry they are seeing a pattern: a drop in cases leads officials and regular Americans to relax measures to stay safe, and infections and deaths make a comeback. “Please, you’ve done so well, don’t let your guard down,” Fauci said during a call-in news conference during the video call with Vermont’s governor. “Because if we do, we are going to see surges that are going to put us back to where we were months ago.” — The Associated Press I ROARING X)s Í Hope Couture Fashion Gala \ VmWednesday, September 23rd#\/ / A VIRTUAL EVENT PRESENTED BY IN SUPPORT OF Ronald McDonald House Charities* Manitoba m Tickets are selling fast for this exciting evening of fashion, family, and fun. Visit rmhcmanitoba.org to learn more and support family togetherness today. -e- e- A_11_Sep-16-20_FP_01.indd A9 2020-09-15 10:47 PM I ;