Trump campaign official ‘hopeful’ coronavirus won’t affect election

A campaign official on President Trump‘s reelection team said Wednesday he is “hopeful” the coronavirus outbreak won’t affect the November election.

When asked on Hill.TV how the campaign is taking the virus into account with voting, Trump campaign strategic communications director Marc Lotter cited White House coronavirus task force member Anthony Fauci’s prediction that the U.S. will be better prepared if a second wave hits in the fall.

“If this comes back next winter it will be in a much different form,” Lotter said. “We will be in a position to deal with it in a much different fashion, and we’re hopeful that it’s not necessarily going to affect the election.”

Lotter also cited reports that predict some people may have “a certain amount of immunity” to the virus after being exposed during the first wave.

But the campaign official emphasized that the security of elections should remain a top priority despite concerns over the virus.

“We have to make sure we’re able to hold elections but also safe and secure elections and not test new unproven things that will be open to fraud,” he added.

Fauci, a top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday that he expects the virus to return in the fall but said things “are going to be very, very different.”

“Our ability to go out and be able to test, identify, isolate, and contact trace, will be orders of magnitude better than what it was just a couple months ago,” Fauci said.

Millions of Americans are under stay-at-home orders throughout the country as governors attempt to mitigate the spread. The U.S. has counted 190,740 cases and 4,127 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

News Source@ THEHILL