Election 2020: Dueling realities about COVID-19 at Biden, Trump rallies

First lady Melania Trump joined her husband on the campaign trail for the first time of the 2020 cycle, introducing him to thousands of mostly maskless supporters at an afternoon rally in Tampa.

The first lady, also not modeling a mask, began by saying, "In a time when hate, negativity and fear are the messages the media streams into our homes and the large tech companies are protecting political censorship," her husband's administration is focused on "the health and safety of the American people."

As coronavirus cases rise in Florida, she said Trump is working "not only destroying the virus and building back the economy" but "on creating ways for people to safely stop isolating and start gathering with friends again on a safe distances." 

However, public health experts say mask wearing and social distancing should continue with greater diligence to avoid a surge of new cases and have noted distribution of a vaccine to the general public is expected to go well into 2021 at the earliest.

The first lady went on to say those not supportive of her husband’s efforts to produce a coronavirus vaccine are not supportive of the American people -- a swipe as some Democrats have questioned whether they’d take a vaccine if Trump alone said it was safe.

"If you are not supporting the safe production of a vaccine, you are not supporting the health and safety of the American people," she said to roaring applause. "There is no room to play politics on this topic in the midst of pandemic.”

“This country deserves a president with proven results, not empty words and promises," she added. "I ask that you join us in continuing to put America first."

The first lady offered her husband a kiss as he then took the stage.

While this is their first joint appearance on the 2020 trail, the first lady also attended the presidential debates and made a solo campaign stop in Pennsylvania Tuesday, arguing in her most political speech to date that Biden promotes a "socialist agenda."

The Trump campaign said it has postponed Trump’s Fayetteville, North Carolina, rally set for this evening due to "50 miles per hour winds and other weather conditions” related to tropical storm Zeta.

The rally was set to start at 6:30 p.m.

The campaign said it will reschedule the rally for Monday.

-ABC News' Will Steakin

At a crowded rally in Tampa this afternoon, Trump painted Biden as a candidate who will "destroy the Florida tourism industry and lock down our entire country" -- though Biden argued the opposite campaigning at a drive-in rally down the I-4 corridor in Florida, a state where COVID-19 cases are rising.

After touting the latest GDP economic growth report and once again insisting the country is "rounding the turn," Trump dug into the crowd sizes Biden attracts at his events.

"They say the fact that he has nobody at all show up is because COVID? No, it's because nobody shows up. And I think that's the ultimate poll and based on the numbers we are getting, we're going to do really well on Tuesday," Trump said, touting the size of the crowds at his events.

Without giving specifics, Trump said that he would win a record share of the Latino vote and claimed “Biden's agenda will devastate the Hispanic-American community.”

Speaking to voters in Broward County at a drive-in rally, Biden continued to differentiate his campaign from Trump’s mostly maskless, packed rallies, kicking off his remarks by thanking supporters for wearing masks and social distancing, before slamming Trump’s rallies -- like his dueling one in Tampa -- as "superspreader events."

"Millions of people out there are out of work, on the edge, can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Donald Trump has given up," Biden said, pitching himself as the unity candidate. “He’s spreading more virus around the country and here in Florida today. He's spreading division, in addition, division and discord."

While Trump argued the future of American holidays is uncertain under Biden, the former vice president repeated what’s become a new mantra: that he will not shut down the economy or the country, even as he says, "I am going to shut down the virus."

As both campaigns vie for the Latino vote, Biden appealed to Cuban voters specifically, arguing that the country needs a new Cuba policy and that Trump has "embraced so many autocrats around the world."

There were 201 cars at Biden’s drive-in rally outside Broward College, while Trump’s rally outside Raymond James Stadium saw thousands of supporters packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

-ABC News' Adia Robinson contributed to this report.

As the country enters what many scientists are calling a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic and the presidential candidates make their final pitches to voters in battleground states, here’s today’s update of the COVID-19 situation in 13 states ABC News rates as competitive for the presidential election (either toss-ups, leaning Democrat or leaning Republican).

Eight battleground states -- Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin -- are experiencing a rise in all three metrics: cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Rate of positivity

• Increased in 12 states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin
• Decreased in one state: New Hampshire 

Current hospitalizations

• Increased in ten states: Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin
• Flat in three states: Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada

Daily deaths

• Increasing in eight states: Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin 
• Decreasing in four states: Arizona, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada
• Flat in one state: Georgia

-ABC News' Soorin Kim, Arielle Mitropoulos, Ben Bell and Brian Hartman