Washington – US Vice-President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger Kamala Harris will be separated by plexiglass during their head-to-head debate this week.
They will also be seated at least 3.6m apart for Wednesday’s event in Salt Lake City, Utah, to help limit the risk of Covid transmission.
This comes after President Donald Trump and several al others close to him tested positive for coronavirus.
Both vice-presidential candidates have recently tested negative.
According to information about the event released by the Commission of Presidential Debates (CPD) on Monday: “plexiglass will be used as part of the CPD’s overall approach to health and safety.”
US media reports say the request was put forward by Harris’ team.
Responding to the announcement, Pence’s spokeswoman, Katie Miller, said: “If Senator Harris wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it.”
Harris’ press secretary, Sabrinah Singh, later tweeted that it was “interesting that Katie Miller mocks our wanting a plexiglass barrier on the debate stage”, adding that Pence was “supposedly in charge of the Covid-19 task force and should be advocating for this too”.
