Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden cancel election night rallies over coronavirus concerns

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders both cancelled their election night rallies planned for Tuesday (March 10) in Ohio over coronavirus concerns, the first campaign events to be explicitly axed over the virus even as more workplaces and organisations adopted social distancing strategies to slow its spread.

Both campaigns made the announcement hours before polls closed in six states, where thousands of voters headed to the ballot box to choose the Democratic nominee, citing advice from public health officials.

"Out of concern for public health and safety, we are cancelling tonight's rally in Cleveland," said Sanders campaign spokesman Mike Casca.

"We are heeding the public warnings from Ohio state officials, who have communicated concern about holding large, indoor events during the coronavirus outbreak," he added in his statement.

Moments later, the Biden campaign's communications director Kate Bedingfield said in a statement: "In accordance with guidance from public officials and out of an abundance of caution, our rally in Cleveland, Ohio tonight is cancelled. We will continue to consult with public health officials and public health guidance and make announcements about future events in the coming days."

The state of Ohio, which will hold its Democratic primary elections next Tuesday, confirmed its first three coronavirus cases a day before the cancellations on Monday.

The cancellations raise the prospect that more events could be scrapped in the future, given the advice from health officials to avoid large gatherings to lessen the chances for sick individuals to spread the virus to healthy people they come into contact with.

Asked if campaign rallies, including President Donald Trump's, should be cancelled, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Anthony Fauci said that doing so could be prudent, even in places with no evident community spread.

"If you're talking about a campaign rally tomorrow, in a place where there is no community spread, I think the judgment to have it might be a good judgment," he said during a White House briefing on Monday.

"If you want to talk about large gatherings in a place where you have community spread, I think that's a judgment call. And if someone decides they want to cancel it, I wouldn't publicly criticise them," he added.

Mr Trump said he had not considered not having campaign rallies, in his latest comments on the topic on Saturday.

Asked if having many people close together posed a risk, he said: "It doesn't bother me at all and it doesn't bother them at all."

While Mr Sanders relies more on large rallies than Mr Biden to drum up enthusiasm, crowd sizes are not a good indication of how much support a candidate can expect at the polls.

Said FiveThirtyEight analyst Nathaniel Rakich: "Crowd sizes may be more of a measure of curiosity about a candidate than actual support. Voters don't just go to rallies to cheer on their candidate; they also go to learn more and maybe allow themselves to be persuaded."

Both candidates also have other ways to get their message out, including a televised debate scheduled for Sunday in Arizona, so the rally cancellations may therefore not translate to that many lost votes.