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Everything to Know About the 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate

From Town & Country

Following President Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis, the vice-presidential debate is moving forward on October 7, but with a few key health and safety measures including placing the podiums 12 feet apart. That said, there does seem to be a disagreement between the Biden and Trump campaign teams regarding putting a plexiglass barrier between the candidates.

On Monday, the Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed that a plexiglass shield would be placed between Biden and Harris and also between the candidates and the moderator, but today, according to the Washington Post, Vice President Pence's team is saying that they "[do] not view plexiglass dividers as medically necessary, given other safety measures at the debate."

Per the Post, "The commission and the Biden campaign both said Tuesday they understood that the Pence team was in agreement with the notion of plexiglass barriers. But the Pence team suggested they did not want any such dividers around the vice president, regardless of what Harris does."

Further meetings regarding the matter are expected to take place on Tuesday.

We'll continue to update this post as new information is shared publicly, but in the meantime, here's what we do know about the debate.

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence will be up on the stage.

Current Vice President Mike Pence remains on the Republican ticket with Donald Trump, and while Biden's search for a VP candidate was a long one, on August 11, he confirmed that Kamala Harris would be his running mate. "I’ve decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald Trump and Mike Pence and then to lead this nation starting in January 2021," he said in a statement, and she later accepted the party's nomination for VP at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

The debate will take place at the University of Utah.

More specifically, the conversation will be held in Kingsbury Hall on President's Circle. It will be moderated by Susan Page of USA Today. Given that the pandemic continues to be a public health concern in the United States, specific social distancing requirements and other measures will be put in place to execute the event safely.

Notably, following Trump's diagnosis, the candidates' podiums will be placed 12 feet apart as opposed to 7 feet as initially planned, per Bloomberg.

It's also likely there will be no handshake or physical contact between the two candidates, again as a health and safety precaution.

The Commission on Presidential Debates is implementing more "structure" following the first presidential debate.

"The CPD will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly," read a statement released after the first Presidential debate.

How can you watch?

The debate will start at 9 p.m. ET and will run for 90 minutes without commercial interruption. It is set to air on a number of channels including CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and CSPAN.

There will not be a second VP debate.

The event on October 7 is the only one scheduled.

We'll continue to update here as more information is shared.

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