for Biden and Sanders<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Trevor Hunnicutt<\/a>March 16, 20203:26 AM GMT+1Updated 5 years ago<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Reuters) – Joe Biden smiled and reached his elbow out to touch his rival Bernie Sanders’ arm on Sunday, an unusual greeting that started a Democratic presidential debate during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders and Biden, vying for their party’s nomination to face Republican President Donald Trump in the November election, met in a Washington television studio with no live audience in the room, a move also made to limit possible exposure to the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advertisement \u00b7 Scroll to continue<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hands-free gesture opened a debate marked by fear of what one of the debate moderators called a “national emergency” connected with the virus that has killed 65 Americans, infected nearly 3,000, roiled financial markets and upended daily American life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Globally, more than 162,000 are infected and over 6,000 have died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Americans to stop shaking hands and instead “use other noncontact methods of greeting” to stop the virus spreading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advertisement \u00b7 Scroll to continue<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump violated that guidance when he shook hands freely with business executives who appeared alongside him at coronavirus news conference on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’m not shaking hands,” Sanders said when asked what steps he was taking to protect himself from the coronavirus. “Joe and I did not shake hands.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders, 78, had a heart attack last October. Coronavirus is believed to be especially deadly in older victims and those with chronic medical conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Fortunately I don’t have any of the underlying conditions,” said Biden, 77. “I wash my hands God knows how many times a day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Peter Cooney<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n