'It was just a big old scare': Trump supporters at comeback rally play down Covid risk

Just seven days ago, Donald Trump was in hospital suffering from a serious case of the coronavirus. He was given supplemental oxygen and experimental drugs to aid his recovery.

On Monday evening, he returned to the campaign trail with a speech to a crowd of thousands in Sanford, Florida — his first campaign rally since his diagnosis.

The very act of holding a rally while coronavirus cases are not yet under control has been criticised by the president’s opponents and public health officials. The event was emblematic of his administration’s handling of the pandemic, an approach that landed Mr Trump in hospital and infected more than a dozen White House staffers in recent weeks.

Florida counted 1,500 new cases of the coronavirus and 48 deaths on Monday, before the president's arrival. Infectious disease experts have warned the state is "ripe for another outbreak."

But there was little fear among the president's supporters as they crowded around the empty stage to wait for him, even though they had to sign a waiver which required them to assume "all risks related to exposure to COVID-19" from the event. Thousands of people stood for hours under the hot Florida sun ahead of Mr Trump's arrival.

"I do believe the coronavirus is over exaggerated. I've had many friends who have tested positive for it, they didn't show any symptoms, they were never really sick," said Brittany Howard, 22.

"It seems like it was just a big old scare. I don't know if the numbers are real or not. I've heard a lot about hospitals skewing paperwork, they get paid, get government funding if they put that it was coronavirus based."

Campaign volunteers at the entrance to the rally took attendees’ temperature before they went in, and encouraged mask use. But inside, many decided to forgo the precautions, echoing the president's rhetoric and falsehoods about the virus.

Patrick McShane, the owner of an energy company, said criticism of Mr Trump's coronavirus response was no different to any other political attack.  

"This is a political thing. They will do everything in their power to discredit our president because they hate him so much," he said.  

"I've talked to so many doctors, and they are like 'hey, wearing a mask is gonna help, but if you're outside, six feet away from people, the droplets aren't gonna get ya."'

In fact, it was a mostly outdoor event at the White House on 26 September that led to many top administration officials catching the virus. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's leader infectious disease expert and member of Mr Trump's coronavirus task force, called it a "superspreader event."

Speaking on Monday, ahead of Mr Trump's Florida rally, Dr Fauci said holding such events was "asking for trouble."

"We've seen that when you have situations of congregate settings where there are a lot of people without masks, the data speak for themselves. It happens. And now is even more so a worse time to do that, because when you look at what's going on in the United States, it's really very troublesome," he said.

Joe Biden, Mr Trump's Democratic opponent, said the rally in Sanford would bring "reckless behaviour, divisive rhetoric, and fear mongering. But, equally dangerous is what he fails to bring: no plan to get this virus that has taken the lives of over 15,000 Floridians under control."

Mr Trump's speech did not dwell on the coronavirus. But he did address his recent infection.

"They say I'm immune. I feel so powerful. I'll walk in there, I'll kiss everyone in that audience," he said to cheers from the crowd, before touting his administration's success in fighting a virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans -- the highest death toll anywhere in the world.

"Nobody acted fast like I did. The bottom line is we saved millions of lives. When this first came out if we didn't do a good job they predicted 2.2 million people would die. We're at 210,000," he said.

Mr Trump's rally comes at a time when voter views on his handling of the pandemic are falling. A new poll by YouGov released on Monday found that voter approval of his handling of the virus has fallen from 43 per cent to 40 per cent – with disapproval at 57 per cent.

Mr Biden's lead on who voters believe would handle the virus better doubled to 7 points.  Some 53 per cent also said they trust the administration less on Covid-19 because of the White House outbreak.

Mr Trump went on to promise "a safe vaccine and a rapid recovery like no one can believe. No country has recovered how we have recovered, economically or otherwise."

He also accused his opponent of being a "big lover of Castro" and claimed to have "brought back Nasa," both clear attempts to shore up support among Florida voters.

This state is a must-win for the president. Without it, his path to the White House is near impossible. But polling averages show Mr Biden with a nearly 5-point lead, according to FiveThirtyEight.