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The Democratic National Committee has displayed a floating billboard in the waters of Miami that highlight the over 215,000 COVID-19 related deaths that have occurred under the watch of Republican President Donald Trump, mere hours before Trump's Miami Town Hall begins broadcasting on NBC.
A tweet with pictures of the billboard from NBC Senior Digital Politics Reporter Alex Seit-Wald mentioned that the billboard is floating on Miami's waterways today and will pass the site of Trump's NBC town hall tonight, displaying the message, "Trump Lied, 215,000+ Died" in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.
Innovations in trolling -- or maybe trawling:
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) October 15, 2020
The @DNCWarRoom hired a floating billboard to ply Miami's waterways today ahead of Trump's NBC town hall tonight. Will pass the site with the message "Trump Lied, 215,000+ Died" in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. pic.twitter.com/T4SPLKYTHR
Trump was originally scheduled to debate Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this week, but the Trump campaign refused after the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced its intention to host the debate virtually. The CPD did so to minimize any potential COVID-19 exposure following the announcement of Trump's positive coronavirus diagnosis on October 2.
NBC announced that it will air Trump's town hall on Thursday at 8 p.m. E.T., the same time as Biden's town hall on ABC.
The ongoing coronavirus epidemic has taken center stage throughout the 2020 presidential campaign. In the U.S. alone, the coronavirus has killed more people than the military conflicts in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and World War I combined.
After initially downplaying the virus's potential lethality to the American public, in mid-September, Trump has publicly advocated for herd immunity. The World Health Organization has called this approach when there is no vaccine available "very dangerous."
As of October 14, COVID-19-related deaths are on the rise in 16 U.S. states, according to The New York Times. In a Tuesday call, Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warned that small household gatherings were causing a spike of new cases, according to CNN.
Earlier this month, Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told CNN that the U.S. should expect 20,000 more coronavirus deaths by the end of the month, especially as colder temperatures drive more people into close, confined spaces indoors.
He added that the U.S. COVID-19 death count may already be that higher than reported due to elderly patients' deaths being attributed to underlying conditions rather than the coronavirus that lethally worsened them.
While the Trump administration has invested millions into the quick development of a COVID-19 vaccine, it's not expected to be widely available until 2021, according to national infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
