With new cases of the Coronavirus hitting a record mark in the United States for a second straight day, former Vice President Joe Biden took direct aim at how President Donald Trump has handled the virus outbreak.
"He's like a child who can't believe this has happened to him," Biden said in a speech in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "All his whining and self pity."
"He thinks that finding out that more Americans are sick will make him look bad," Biden added. "He's worried about looking bad."
Urging Americans to wear a mask in order to help the nation stem the spread of the virus, Biden said a public health solution was where the President should focus his efforts.
"Amazingly, he still hasn't grasped the most basic fact of this crisis," Biden argued to his audience. "To fix the economy, we have to get control over the virus."
For Biden it was yet another small step on the campaign trail in southeastern Pennsylvania, not far from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, as the presumptive Democratic nominee has not held a rally since March 9 in Detroit.
Noting the refusal of President Trump to wear a mask, Biden said the President has abdicated the role of national leader during this pandemic.
"So, it's up to us - all of us," Biden said. "We're going to have to wear a mask."
While Biden criticized the President, Vice President Mike Pence was in Ohio - a critical battleground state in November - making the opposite argument on the virus response.
"Every step of the way President Trump exercised the kind of leadership that every American would want - decisive action," Pence said.
But soon after the Pence speech, the Governor of Ohio signaled concern about the virus spread in his state.
"We have increased testing, but we do not believe this increase in cases is completely due to testing," Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said. "Hospitalizations are also up."
But the biggest problems for a GOP Governor seemed to be in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott paused new plans to re-open businesses shuttered by the virus.
Texas had 5,996 new cases on Thursday, as the total daily number in the U.S. broke 38,000 for a second consecutive day - but the number of deaths from the virus continues to decline.
630 deaths were reported on Thursday, as the 7-day average of deaths dropped to 561 deaths per day. A month ago, that average was 1,100 deaths per day.
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