Biden campaign taking COVID-19 ‘very seriously,’ says adviser Symone Sanders

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• Judy Woodruff:

  President Trump's COVID diagnosis also affects Joe Biden's campaign strategy in the closing weeks before Election Day.

  Symone Sanders is a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, and she joins us now from Salt Lake City.

  Symone Sanders, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

  So, how does the president's — the fact that he is still fighting COVID, but that he is leaving the hospital, going back to the White House, what effect does this have on the campaign, do you think?

• Symone Sanders:

  Thanks for having me today, Judy. Always good to see you.

  So, first, I want to extend our thoughts and our prayers to President Trump, the first lady, the folks in the White House who have contracted COVID-19, but also folks all over this country.

  More than 200,000 Americans have died from this virus. And more than seven million Americans have been infected and have cases of COVID-19. So, our thoughts and prayers are with all of those folks.

  Look, we don't view this as a matter of politics, the president's diagnosis. Frankly, Judy, we view this as a bracing and stark reminder that coronavirus is real, and that — that coronavirus is real, COVID-19 is real, and that you have to take this seriously, all of us, no matter who you are.

• Judy Woodruff:

  The fact that there was this so-called super-spreader event at the White House, the fact that people around the president were infected, very well infected during the debate, had been infected at the time of the debate, Vice President Biden was there, others on your staff were there, does that call into question the wisdom of having Mr. Biden travel around the country?

  He is in Miami today. He's moving around.

  Should there be more caution taken in your campaign?

• Symone Sanders:

  Well, Judy, we are taking caution.

  Vice President Biden and our campaign, we're consulting with our medical professionals. And I will note that, on Friday and yesterday — on Friday, Vice President Biden received two COVID-19 tests. They were both negative. They were the PCR test. And that's the deep test, for folks at home, the one that goes way up to the brain, as did Dr. Biden, Mr. Emhoff, and Senator Harris.

  Our staff received testing on Friday and is, frankly, regularly tested. And not one person got on a plane Friday until we were sure everyone's tests were negative.

  The vice president again had another COVID test yesterday. As you saw, as you have noted, he's out traveling in Miami today. And so we're being safe.

  We are consulting with health care professionals. And they are really guiding us through this process, Judy.

  But I will just note this. We have taken this very seriously from the onset of COVID-19.

  On the debate stage last week, President Trump mocked Vice President Biden's wearing of a mask. The Trump campaign and officials in the White House have mocked our events. You know those little white circles on the ground, Judy, those six feet circles, those are there to help keep people safe at our events.

  We're holding events outside. When we have events inside, we're ensuring that we're adhering to local public health guidelines about how many folks should be inside. They're social distancing. All of our staff are wearing masks in cars, in planes, outside at events.

  We are taking this seriously, Judy. And we implore the American people take this seriously, because this virus is real.

• Judy Woodruff:

  I would just note, the CDC was out with new guidelines today, saying that they now point out that there can be air — spread in the air from a greater distance than six feet. It can be up to 12 feet or even more, that it can hang — these aerosol droplets can hang in the air.

  I want to ask you about the campaign.

  We just heard Steve Cortes advising the Trump campaign that this is a real — that, in the battleground states, no matter what the polls show, that it's a lot closer than that. How do you see where the race stands right now?

• Symone Sanders:

  Well, Judy, I'm young, but I have been doing this for a little while.

  And I like to say, it's always good if you have the mind-set that you are 15 points down, and you're broke, and you don't have any money. And that's how we're running, OK?

  We know the polls are good. And I think the polls, frankly, are reflective of the work that we have done and how the American people feel about the leadership that they have seen over the last four years.

  This election is a choice, a choice between Vice President Biden and Senator Harris' vision for America, and the leadership, again, that they have seen over the last four years.

  And Vice President Biden and Senator Harris, over the course of these next 29 days, are going to articulate that vision, and are going to make a forceful case about why Vice President Biden should be the next president of the United States.

  And so we're going to continue traveling, doing it safely, as the public health experts guide us, and we are really working to earn every vote out there, Judy.

  We don't take anything for granted, and we don't think anything is in the bag. So, we got to campaign hard until the end, because people are voting right now. And so it's not just what happens on November 3. More than one million — I think I saw a stat the other day that said more than two million Americans have already cast ballots in this election.

  So, we're excited to be out there, and we look forward to earning the votes of the people in this country.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Very quickly, the vice presidential debate between, of course, Kamala Harris, Senator Harris, Vice President Pence this week, if he comes at her with the same line of argument that President Trump did at his debate with Vice President Biden last week, saying, this is — this is really — essentially, your campaign is a stalking horse for the most liberal wing of the Democratic Party, that it — that this is a socialist philosophy that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would bring to the White House, how does she answer that?

• Symone Sanders:

  Well, Judy, she will be ready.

  Vice President Pence, he's a good debater. He's a formidable debater. And we think that this will be a very vigorous debate. We are not coming into this underestimating him.

  But I don't think anybody looks to Joe Biden and sees an extremist or a liberal socialist. So, voters know Joe Biden. Senator Harris knows Joe Biden. And she is going to, on that debate stage Wednesday night, speak to the American people, just as Vice President Biden did last week, about their vision for the future, and she's looking forward to it.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Symone Sanders, adviser to the Biden campaign, we thank you very much.

  Symone Sanders Thank you, Judy.