Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden took part in a town hall at the northeastern Pennsylvania town of Moosic, hosted by CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

Question from a woman who lost her sister to COVID-19:  What plan do you have in place to keep us from contracting COVID-19 virus in our workplace?

Biden expressed sympathy for the woman and her family.  He laid out three steps:  have a national standard to have people be safe in workplace and in school.  Rapid testing, give workplaces funding to have places be safe, and have testing/tracing systems available.

Biden noted that Trump doesn’t hold events in which he encourage mask wearing and social distancing.

Cooper asked if Biden could foresee a situation when Biden would “down play” a situation.  Biden said no, there would be no such situation.

Question, from a teacher noting the inconsistency of messaging from the White House:  How will you get the proper messaging out to all Americans to keep them informed as to how to properly protect themselves and others from this pandemic.

Biden:  “What presidents say matters.  People listen.  I will make it clear what needs to be done.”  Biden said we have to make sure that people get the truth.  He said he would call every governor, and when necessary every mayor, to make sure they got out the message about precautions.  He also said he would provide for plentiful PPE.

“You know what recently happened?  The President of the United States said that no longer would we, in fact, provide masks for schools,” Biden said.  “For schools!  We would not pay for masks in schools, because it was not a national emergency.  It’s totally irrational.”

Biden pointed out that Trump’s actions were motivated by the stock market performance and his own reelection campaign.

Cooper asked what the difference is between Biden’s condemnation of Trump rallies but praise for protests against police violence.  “What’s the difference when it comes to COVID safety?”

Noting that people should be careful across the board, Biden said, “There’s a big difference between people walking, moving along and people sitting down, cheek to jowl, shoulder to shoulder, a thousand of them, breathing on one another, indoors and out, that causes real, serious problems.”

Cooper asked if Biden would like to see a reimplementation of the 1918 practice of outdoor courts to fine people for not wearing masks.

Biden said he would like to see governors encourage mask wearing.  He would put mandates on for not wearing a mask on federal property.

Cooper brought up the “individual liberty” argument against wearing masks.  Biden responded by lambasting Bill Barr, who said mask mandates were taking away freedom.  “I’ll tell you what takes away your freedom:  what takes away your freedom is not being able to see your kid.  Not being able to go to the football game or the baseball game.  Not being able to see your mom or dad.  That’s what take away your freedom.  And it’s been the failure of this president to deal, to deal with this virus–and he knew about it.”

Question from a high school teacher with MS who lost his mother-in-law to COVID-19:  “Will you and your administration mandate the vaccine to be taken, like the MMR, to enter school, when it becomes safe and available to the public?”

Biden:  “I don’t trust the president on vaccines.  I trust Dr. [Anthony] Fauci.  If Fauci says the vaccine is safe, I take the vaccine.  We should listen to the scientists, not the president.”

Biden also noted that school superintendents estimate it will cost about $200 billion to safely reopen schools to provide for more teachers and cleaner classrooms.

Cooper noted that students mandatory vaccines are established by states.  He asked Biden if he would encourage state governments to mandate a coronavirus vaccine for all returning students.

“It depends on the state of the vaccine,” Biden said.  Noting that he’s been briefed by experts in the field, and that no vaccine has 100% efficiency.  He also noted no test has been done on children.  He would not mandate that children have to take the vaccine until all safety tests have been done, which won’t be done until sometime in 2021.

Cooper asked if he would keep the people who lead the CDC and the FDA.  Biden said it would be premature to make that decision, but he was hopeful after the head of the CDC spoke independently today.

Question from a nurse, who noted that she knows people who have not looked for a job because they’re making too much on the federally subsidized unemployment:  “What is your plan to get Americans back to work and off the government payroll?”

Biden first expressed his appreciation for the people in nursing.  “If there are any angels in heaven, they’re all nurses, male and female.  … Docs let you live; nurses make you want to live, male and female.”

Addressing her questions, Biden said he has a plan to pay health care workers a living wage.  Biden noted that coronavirus is still rampaging around the country, and until that can be resolved, there’s a need for the supplemental payments.  He noted that people “in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and all around” worry about how they’re going to pay the back rent when Trump’s moratorium is over, and that has to be dealt with.  Biden never directly answered her question about the federal unemployment supplement.

Question from a patient advocate at a cancer center who is struggling mentally and financially making under $15 per hour:  “Do you have any plans to stand up for us health care workers?”

Biden:  “The idea that you’re not making a minimum $15 an hour is just wrong.  Wrong!  No one should have to work two jobs to get out of poverty.  You’re bustin’ your neck and what you’re doing is saving people lives.”

“I really do view this campaign as a campaign of Scranton against Park Avenue, and I really mean it,” Biden announced.  Biden said that the hardworking people of Scranton versus those like Trump who look out his window and sees Wall Street.  Biden took offense to Trump’s claim that most people own stock, saying no one he grew up with had stock.

Biden noted that mental health is also a key issue and will continue to be in the future.

Cooper asked about Bill Barr’s statement that “lockdowns were the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in US history other than slavery” and Biden’s reported willingness to implement a national lockdown if the virus continues to spread.

Biden said that the Trump camp took out of context the statement about lockdowns.  Biden said that the issue of lockdowns would have to be determined based on state-by-state.

Holding up his mask, Biden said that wearing a mask isn’t necessarily to prevent the wearing from getting sick, but to stop the wearing from getting other sick:  “I call that a patriotic requirement.  I call that what we should be doing.”

“If the president had done is job, had done his job from the beginning,” Biden asserted, “all the people would still be alive.”  [Fact Check:  This is highly unlikely.   While fatalities from coronavirus would have been greatly reduced, no reputable source would claim mask wearing would have eliminated all fatalities.]

Biden said he hoped that a safe vaccine would be available “tomorrow,” but he noted that it would take a long time to manufacture and distribute sufficient doses.

Asked by Cooper if Biden thinks comments like that made by Barr about mask wearing contribute to the spread of the disease, Biden was adamant:  “Sure.  Quite frankly, they’re sick.”

“You lose your freedom because [Trump] didn’t act,” Biden said.  “The freedom to go to the ballgame.  The freedom of your kid to go to school.  The freedom to see your mom or dad in the hospital. The freedom to just walk around your neighborhood.  [Fact check:  You’re still able to walk around your neighborhood.]–because of failure to act responsibly.”

Biden cited a recent Pew poll that showed people around the world trust Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi more than Trump.  “And one of the reasons they cite is COVID, the way he’s handled COVID.  This is not only causing us life lost here; it’s causing to lose our influence in ways that are profound.”

Question from a woman who works for a family owned business whose mother was diagnosed with multiple melanoma:  “What is your plan to make health care affordable so that Americans don’t need to drain their savings when care is necessary?”

Biden noted Trump is leading a lawsuit in federal court to overturn the Affordable Care Act.  He would reinstate the ACA, and he would add a public option to the ACA.

Biden noted that his son served in Iraq, and he was very offended when Trump referred to people who served as “losers.”

“My point is this:  the idea that healthcare is debated whether it’s a right or a privilege, it’s an absolute right.  And so we have to make sure, particularly in the moment of COVID, that any costs relating to COVID are in fact free. The federal government guarantees they’re taken care of.”

Biden noted that people aren’t seeking care is because of the costs affiliated with the care.  Biden stressed that he would put resources into the quest to find a cure for cancer, saying “It can be done.  It can be done.”

Question from a museum educator about mail-in ballots.  “What steps would you take to ensure that voters in future elections do not face the same uncertainty that their vote will be counted in time for election results?”

Biden said he wouldn’t question the legitimacy of the election, like Trump and his campaign surrogates have done.  Biden also noted that he would shore up the Post Office, and he would encourage states to count mail in ballots on or before Election Day.  He would also get qualified poll workers so we can have early voting, same-day registration and automatic registration for eligible 18-year-olds.

Cooper asked what Biden thinks the weeks after the election would look like.  “Look,” Biden said, “if the President had even remote confidence that he was likely to win the election, he wouldn’t be doing this.”

Cooper noted Trump said he would not commit to accepting the results of the election and asked Biden if he would commit to that tonight.  “Sure!” Biden said.  “The full results.  Count every vote.  Can any of you history majors out there think of any president who said early on, ‘I’m not sure I’m going to accept the, the ah, results of the election?  It depends.’  What has happened to us?  This is not who we are.  This is not who America is.  No president has ever said that.”

Question from a school board member who moved to Pennsylvania from Texas:  “Black parents across America need to know, how much different will The Talk be with our sons and daughters about police interaction under your Administration?”

Biden promised it would be “very different.”  He noted that very few white parents have to discuss with their children how to interact with police if they get pulled over.  Noting that “The vast majority of police are decent, honorable people,” Biden commented, “One of the things I found is, the only people who don’t like bad cops more than we don’t like them, are police officers.”

Biden called for a more transparent way police departments deal with bad police officers or questionable incidents.  He said he would call a summit of police leaders, union leaders, leaders of the Black and Brown communities, and others to agree on “fundamental things that need to be done, including much more rigorous background checks on those who apply for and become police officers.  Two, teaching people how to deescalate.”

Biden’s third point dealt with revamping the 9-1-1 system to address systems with psychiatrists and psychologists to deal with the mentally ill.

“I’m confident that the vast majority of police are willing to sit down in the White House, in a commission like Barack [Obama] and I started, to begin to sit down and lay out what the minimum basic requirements are and what is out of bounds, period, including the ability for us to go in and look at the pattern and practice of police departments so they’re completely transparent.”

Asked by Cooper if he benefited from White Privilege–a concept Trump denied–Biden was candid:  “Sure.  I’ve benefited just because I don’t have to go through what my Black brothers and sisters have had to go through, number one.”

Biden then said that he was offended by some in the media who claimed Biden would be the first person without an Ivy League degree to be elected president.  [Fact Check:  there are many without an Ivy League degree.  Harry Truman, for example, didn’t even have a college degree.]

“And guys like Trump, who inherited everything–and squandered what they inherited–are the people that I’ve always had a problem with, not the people who are busting their neck.”

Cooper pointed to Trump touting the First Step Act to help people with minor drug charges, asking why the Obama-Biden administration couldn’t get it done.  Biden pointed to the reduction of federal prison population and sentencing guidelines that discriminated in favor of people who used powder cocaine over crack cocaine.

Question from the former chief of the Wilkes-Barre police department and a current member of the Wilkes-Barre city council, noting the violence taking place in cities and the lack of respect shown to police officers and military:  “Can you tell us what your plan is to address this situation and bringing our nation back together?”

Biden:  “Violent protesting is one thing.  The right to speak is one thing.  Violence of any kind, no matter who it is coming from, is wrong.  The people should be held accountable.”

Biden noted that Trump has not condemned violence from the far right and white supremacists.  Biden noted Kellyanne Conway said, paraphrasing, “Chaos and violence are good for our Administration.”

“The president talks about, ‘In Joe Biden’s America….’  I gotta remind him–he may be losing it–HE’S PRESIDENT.  I’m not the president.  This is Donald Trump’s America.  Do you feel safer in Donald Trump’s America?”

Asked by Cooper, who cited rising crime statistics in cities, if he was worried about a breakdown of law and order in the country, Biden responded, “I’m worried that as long as the administration continues to preach hate and division, talking about people in the ways they talk about them, that I am worried.”

Biden noted that in the Obama-Biden administration, violent crime went down 15%.

Question from a business agent from an ironworkers union:  “Do you support the continuation of fracking safely and with proper guidelines, of course, and growing the industry to bring additional jobs to our region?”

Biden supported the fracking industry and said there are thousands of upcapped wells because many of the early fracking adopters have gone out of business, claiming that they could put to work 250,000 tradespeople to cap the wells and stop methane and other chemicals from leaking.

Cooper asked how Biden’s support for fracking squares with his environmental position.  Biden noted that there needs to be a transition, to get to net-zero emissions by 2050 and net-zero power emissions by 2035.

Biden noted that his policy would ensure that the $600 billion in federal contracts paid out would be fulfilled by American companies, including the supply chain.  He would eliminate the tax breaks Trump put in place to help companies that offshore jobs.

Question from a manager for a non-profit mentoring program who is an expectant mother:  “Are you a firm supporter of the Green New Deal, and how will you make sure our communities are protected?”

Biden responded that he has laid out his environmental plans, including a net-zero power grid by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050.  He also committed $1 trillion for green infrastructure, including ensuring schools have updated ventilation.

Biden noted that his plan would produce jobs by investing in infrastructure, including union trade jobs.

Question from a mental house counselor:  “How would you handle Russia’s involvement with Trump?  How will we know the many way he has compromised the United States?” 

Biden:  “Well, ah, I made it clear that, ah, early on, that attempting to interfere with our election is a violation of our sovereignty, and if it is done again–and it appears that it is being done–there’ll be a price to pay.  There’ll be a price to pay.  And Putin knows, the reason he doesn’t want me as president, he knows me and he knows I mean it.  I don’t mean war.  He’ll pay a price for it, and it’ll be an economic price.”

Biden said he needs to provide the states with the ability to detect and protect their voter registration rolls and election equipment to protect from cyber-intrusion, as well as a way to double check the vote if necessary.

Cooper asked for more specifics.  Biden deferred, saying it wouldn’t be prudent to answer.  Asked if he thought Russia was an enemy, Biden said, “I believe Russia is an opponent.”

Biden referred to Putin’s goal of breaking up NATO and Putin’s interference in Eastern European affairs.

Cooper asked if Biden considered China an opponent, noting Trump says Biden is too cozy with China.  Biden chuckled at the concept.

“We now have larger trade deficit with China than we ever had with China,” Biden said.  Asked by Cooper if he viewed China as an opponent, Biden said, “I view China as a competitor,” noting that we have to strengthen our alliances in Asia.

Question from an Army veteran who works in manufacturing in Mahanoy City:  “I want to know if you are elected, will you bring my brothers and sisters home, and end our military involvement in these unnecessary and endless wars that don’t have any end in sight.”

Biden:  “Yes, I would.”  Biden noted that he objected to troop build-ups in Afghanistan, favoring an anti-terrorism capability, not an anti-insurgency one in the region.

Question from a republican businessman whose family-owned business competes directly with a state-owned entity in China:  “As president, how would you address China’s unfair trade policies?”

Biden reiterated that he would implement a “buy American” program for federal contracts, and punish companies that reimport products made in China that are then branded as “made in America.”

Question from the CFO of her family’s potato farmer and a member of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau:  “How do you plan to decrease the regulatory burden for farmers and businesses as a whole?”

Biden said that he would implement a policy that would pay farmers for “land banks” in which farmers are paid to plant crops that absorb carbon from the air.  Biden also spoke about the innovation that allows for organic fertilizers to be made safe to cut down on pollution going downstream.

Question from a small business owner:  “What is your plan to build a bridge to voters from the opposing party to lead us forward to a common future?”

Biden noted that he had commented before that the next president was going to inherit two things:  “A divided nation and a world in disarray.”  Biden said he would be American president, and he would work not based on people’s motives, but on their values.

Cooper asked if reaching across the aisle was still possible.  Biden responded that there was a recent report of a group of republican Senators who said they would work with Biden if he was elected.

“I’m confident that I can.  I’m confident that with President Trump out of the way, and his vitriolic attitude and his way of just getting after people, revenge, with that gone there’s going to be an awful lot of republicans who should have spoken up already, but in fact, I think there’s going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of six and eight republicans who are ready to get things done from dealing with cancer, from dealing with health care, from dealing with COVID, from dealing with infrastructure, and I think we’re going to win back the Democratic Senate.”