Bernie Sanders will return to the Senate from the presidential campaign trail next week as the coronavirus derails normal campaign activities.
Jane O’Meara Sanders, the wife of the Vermont senator, told reporters Thursday that Sanders will return to the Senate after Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate with former Vice President Joe Biden in Washington. She added that he is still continuing his presidential campaign.
The debate was originally scheduled to take place in Arizona. In hopes of reducing the risk of transmitting the coronavirus, CNN and the Democratic National Committee eliminated its live audience and spin room before eventually deciding to hold the debate in its Washington studio.
Coronavirus disruptions have prevented Sanders from holding his traditional large campaign rallies ahead of the next four major primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio.
On Tuesday, Sanders and his rival Biden each canceled campaign rallies in Ohio after the state’s governor declared a state of emergency due to the virus and discouraged large gatherings. Sanders and Biden have not held any other in-person campaign events since Tuesday.
Sanders on Thursday gave an address on the coronavirus and warned that the pandemic is “on the scale of a major war.”
