Trump cancels key Florida event as unease builds over pandemic record

US president Donald Trump has been forced to cancel next month's Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, amid soaring coronavirus rates in Florida.

Mr Trump had originally changed the location of most of the convention to Jacksonville from Charlotte, North Carolina, after disagreement with that state’s governor over holding the convention during a pandemic.

But Mr Trump was forced to cancel the Jacksonville portion of the event, where he had been expected to officially receive the presidential nomination. Delegates will still meet in Charlotte, though numbers will be limited.

"The timing for this event is not right, just not right with what's happened recently," Mr Trump said as he announced the decision in the White House. "The flare-up in Florida to have a big convention is not the right time. I have to protect the American people. That's what I've always done. That's what I always will do. That's what I'm about."

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The move is the latest U-turn by the president on coronavirus as polls show that approval of his handling of the pandemic has plummeted.

Florida, which has been one of several southern states to see a sharp uptick in cases since the Labor Day holiday weekend in late May, recorded 12,000 new cases on Friday – another record high. Hospitalisations also continued to increase in the state, which resisted introducing strict social-distancing measures.

As the Trump administration continues to push for schools to reopen next month, White House coronavirus task force leader Dr Deborah Birx says it is "still an open question" how rapidly children under 10 can spread Covid-19.

But White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted it was safe for schools to reopen, noting that if children become infected they are far less likely to become ill. “We believe that children should be going to school,” she said, comparing schools to essential businesses.

“It is our firm belief that our schools are essential places of business, if you will; that our teachers are essential personnel.”

The Centre for Disease Protection and Control issued new guidance on school reopenings on Friday that called for students to return to the classroom this autumn. It comes two weeks after Mr Trump criticised the agency’s previous guidance as “very tough and expensive”.

Pressing pause

Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci also warned in a separate interview that some states may have to "pause" their reopening plans due to rising infection rates.

Mr Fauci, who threw the opening pitch in the first game of the baseball season for the Washington Nationals team on Thursday night, also said he had received serious threats to his life and now had full-time security protection.

The United States has reported more than 143,000 deaths from Covid-19 and more than four million cases – the highest infection rate of any country in the world.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign hit back at a range of recent polls that showed the president trailing his presidential rival Joe Biden by double digits, less than four months before November's election.

A Fox News poll released on Thursday showed Mr Biden ahead of Mr Trump by nine points in Michigan, 11 points in Pennsylvania, and 13 per cent in Minnesota. All three states were won by the president in 2016.

But in a briefing with journalists, Mr Trump’s campaign chief, Bill Stepien, said there were still “multiple pathways to 270” (the number of electoral college votes) open to the president.

“We know here what are internal number say,” he said. “That’s why we exude the quiet confidence in our mission.”