WATCH: Behind-The-Scenes Look At Coronavirus Safety Measures Used By Joe Biden And His Campaign
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- President Donald Trump's diagnosis demonstrates how careful candidates — who meet hundreds of people — must be to avoid contracting coronavirus.
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KDKA political editor Jon Delano, who interviewed former Vice President Biden on Wednesday, outlines the safety measures the Biden campaign has been using.
When KDKA's Jon Delano interviewed Biden last April, he was in his basement and Jon was in a home office in his attic. Nothing unsafe about that.
By early September when KDKA's Jon Delano interviewed Biden in person in Hazelwood, Mr. Delano had his temperature taken, wore a mask and stood 10 feet from the presidential candidate. On Wednesday, when Biden's train pulled into the Amtrak station in Pittsburgh, the precautions were even tougher.
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"Very, very, very, cautious," says Nancy Patton Mills, the chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, who frequently greets Biden when he stops in Pennsylvania.
Mills says she's been told exactly where to stand.
"They had tape on the platform," said Mill, describing Biden's most recent visit. "And at some point, I had one foot on some rubber mat and one foot on concrete, and when I tried to move over to the concrete, they said, 'Stay over there on your tape, please.'"
KDKA's Jon Delano had a similar experience with a marker in Hazelwood and again on the platform before boarding the train. But now so much more is required.
"This is the negative COVID test that I had to take in order to interview Vice President Biden," said KDKA's Jon Delano, displaying his test result.
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"Of course, that allowed me to get a pass – press credentials to be with the campaign and this special credential to go onboard the train. When I arrived, I was wearing the traditional KDKA mask – you've seen this a lot on TV. The Biden campaign asked me to take that mask off, and they gave me one of their N-95 medical masks. This is what I wore when I was with the vice president," says Jon.
On the train, KDKA's Jon Delano was about six feet from Biden and told to keep his mask on, although the former vice president took his mask off for the interview.
All these precautions may seem a bit much, but after the president's diagnosis, perhaps more people will do the same.
