The second US presidential debate, which is expected to take place on October 15, will be virtual due to health concerns, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said in a press statement. The next debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the Democratic Party nominee, was due to be held at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. The Commission said the change is meant to “protect the health and safety of all involved with the second presidential debate.” The second presidential debate will take the form of a townhall meeting, in which the candidates will participate from separate remote locations. The participants and the moderator, Steve Scully, Senior Executive Producer and Political Editor at C-SPAN Networks, will still be located at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida. The format of the debate won’t change. The two presidential candidates will debate for 90 minutes with no commercial breaks. The announcement was made after Trump and a growing number of White House stuffers tested positive for Coronavirus following the first presidential debate last week. The news also comes after the vice presidential debate on Wednesday between US Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris. The event, the first to happen since Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive, took place in person but with added protections such as plexiglass barriers between the two candidates. In the Wednesday night debate, Harris accused the Trump-Pence White House of presiding over the “greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country” in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic during the first and only vice-presidential debate of the 2020 election. Vice-president Pence, defended Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis that has killed more than 210,000 Americans. Reacting to the development however, Trump said he wouldn’t participate in the second debate with Biden. “I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate,” Trump said on Fox Business.
