Plexiglass will be installed between US Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris on the Vice Presidential debate stage in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, a source close to the Biden campaign said Monday, according to The Hill.
The development, which was first reported by Politico, comes as a growing number of individuals in President Donald Trump's orbit have tested positive for the coronavirus, including the president himself, first lady Melania Trump, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and two assistant press secretaries.
Pence has tested negative for the virus, but the growing number of cases out of the Trump administration raised concerns about the upcoming debate, especially because the President and First Lady tested positive two days after attending the presidential debate last week.
Following the president's diagnosis, the Commission on Presidential debates decided to space Harris and Pence 13 feet apart instead of seven feet apart, according to The Hill.
The plexiglass proposal was reportedly supported by Harris' team but not Pence's.
“If Sen. Harris wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it,” Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller said in a statement to Politico.
Trump announced Thursday night that he and First Lady Melania Trump had been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“Tonight, FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
On Sunday, Trump recorded a video message in the hospital in which he described his experience with the coronavirus.
"It's been a very interesting journey, I learned a lot about COVID," Trump said, "I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school. This isn't the let's-read-the-book school, and I get it, and I understand it."
On Monday, he said he would be released from Walter Reed Hospital, where he had been hospitalized with the coronavirus over the weekend.