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The vice presidential debate will continue as planned next week in Salt Lake City, Utah, after President Trump tested positive Friday for COVID-19.
A member of the Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed to The Post that the Wednesday debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is still happening.
However, the Biden campaign has requested some last-minute changes, demanding 12 feet of space between Harris and Pence, arguing the agreed-upon 7 feet is not enough for sustained contact indoors.
According to a Politico report, the Biden-Harris campaign raised a health and safety objection with the Commission of Presidential Debates on Friday during negotiations on the Oct. 7 match-up.
The commission and Trump’s re-election campaign opposed the changes, however, by Friday afternoon, with the president on his way to Walter Reed Hospital, Trump 2020 said they’d be open to changes to keep the VP candidates safe.
“We are open to more space between the candidates, which we are happy to negotiate,” Tim Murtaugh, communications manager for the president’s re-election campaign, told the publication.
The Oct. 7 event at the University of Utah will draw campaign aides and journalists from across the country after Trump and several other political figures contracted the serious respiratory bug.
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday after Trump disclosed in an early-morning tweet that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive.
Attendees of the first presidential debate Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio, were tested for the virus before entering a socially distanced viewing area.
Trump is experiencing mild symptoms, according to senior aides, and spent Friday morning calling top Republican senators to urge them to press forward with the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
Trump tested positive after assistant Hope Hicks developed symptoms late Wednesday and tested positive Thursday. Hicks had traveled with Trump to the Cleveland debate on Tuesday and to a Minnesota rally on Wednesday.
Other political figures announced positive results Friday.
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who attended a White House Rose Garden event Saturday, said Friday that he tested positive for COVID-19, as did Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, a niece of Utah’s other senator, Republican Mitt Romney.
It’s not yet clear if the two remaining presidential debates will proceed as planned on Oct. 15 in Miami and Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tenn.
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