Trump says COVID-19 cases are up 'because we test'
In response to former Vice President Joe Biden, who warned of a "dark winter" due to the pandemic, President Donald Trump said Saturday, "we gotta have spirit."
The U.S. on Friday saw its highest daily number of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. "If we tested half cases would be half," the president argued, despite the fact that cases would still exist even if undetected.
Trump expressed his exhaustion with hearing about COVID-19 cases, repeating the word "COVID" 10 times in a matter of seconds, mocking the coverage of the pandemic.
"That's all I hear about now. That’s all I hear ... COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID, a plane goes down, 500 people that they don't talk about it. COVID COVID COVID COVID, by the way, on November 4 you won't hear about it anymore," he said to his roughly few thousand supporters gathered in the sun not socially distanced. Not many wore masks even though some people had masks dangling from their necks.
The presidential race is in a dead-heat contest in North Carolina, where Biden has 49% support among likely voters in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll in the state, while Trump has 48% support.
Trump narrowly won North Carolina in 2016.
-ABC News' Will Steakin