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Trump’s life during coronavirus: Same routine, more Purell

The campaign says the changes aren’t related to coronavirus.

„What we’re doing at the campaign is proceeding as normal,“ Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told reporters Sunday.

On Friday, Trump, dressed casually and wearing a red “Keep America Great” hat, shook hands before and after speaking at a Friday evening reception for about 100 donors at Mar-a-Lago, according to two attendees.

Hossein Khorram, a Trump Victory Finance committeeman from Washington state who attended the event Friday, said attendees were puzzled when he offered others an elbow bump instead of handshake. Khorram explained he lives in Washington state, where coronavirus deaths reached double digits.

“We’re in the thick of it,” he said. “We’re taking precautions.”

Two days later, Trump spoke to nearly 1,000 people at Mar-a-Lago, posing for photos with nearly 100 of them in small groups. Those getting their photos were asked to use hand sanitizer, while others at the event were given the option of dispensing sanitizer from large pumps near the bathroom, according to three attendees. When the president shook the hand of a white-coated gastroenterologist — which manages digestive tract diseases — he joked that the doctor’s hands weren’t clean, two of the attendees said.

That same day, Trump posed for photos after golfing with several members of the Washington Nationals, including Patrick Corbin, Ryan Zimmerman, Trea Turner, Daniel Hudson and Kurt Suzuki, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, which is near the team’s spring training complex. Photos posted on social media show him standing close to the players with his thumb up.

Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in-personal interactions, such as shaking hands, are not necessarily off-limits for most people who aren’t coughing or sneezing.

But, she added, Trump might want to be more careful, given his position: “We apply a different standard to the president.”

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence, who is leading the administration’s coronavirus response efforts, gave elbow bumps instead of handshakes on a Thursday visit to Washington state. But on Saturday, when he spoke at a lunchtime fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, he shook hands, one of two weekend attendees said.

An upbeat Trump spoke at the events about a variety of topics, including the likelihood he would face former Vice President Joe Biden in the presidential race, calling him “sleepy Joe” and criticizing him for being absent minded.

Trump told donors Sunday that some people are overreacting to the coronavirus, noting the seasonal flu kills more people and that coronavirus may not reach those numbers, according to two attendees. It’s an argument he has repeatedly made in public, as well.

“So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu,” he tweeted Monday. “It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”

“He feels it is under control,” said Sampat Shivangi, an Indian American physician from Mississippi who attended the donor event on Sunday.

Trump told the crowd at the Sunday gathering that the administration was doing all it could. “He was cautious not to dismiss it,” Khorram said.

Nuzzo said that leaders should be consistent in their behavior to send a message to others on how to act.

“It’s important for leaders to model effective action,” she said. “Leaders are important models.”

Meridith McGraw and Gabby Orr contributed to this report.

Source: politico.com
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