As early voting began in North Carolina, Joe Biden urged supporters in the state to cast their votes as soon as possible and criticized his opponent, Donald Trump, for his response to the coronavirus pandemic and his failure to protect Americans from its economic fallout.

The infection reached its highest level in one day in several states on Friday, with the total number of confirmed cases reaching nearly 70,000 – the highest point since July – amid a third “surge” in infections eight months into the public health crisis.

The former vice president contested the president’s claim at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday that the United States had “crossed the corner.”

“My grandfather would say this guy would have gone around the turn if he thought we’d crossed the corner,” said Biden from the parking lot at Riverside High School in Durham, one of the most socially distant social gatherings of his campaign. Their supporters sound their horns in the parking lot.

“The angle has turned? It’s getting worse, and he’s still lying to us about the circumstances.”

Supporters can be heard calling out, “Take him home, Joe.”

The state has emerged as a decisive battleground the Democratic presidential candidate aims to turn – no Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since Barack Obama was elected in 2008.

A recent survey of New York times/ Siena College awarded Mr. Biden the support of 46 percent of potential voters, compared to 42 percent for the president.

In a hypothetical event on Friday, Biden’s campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said, “Without North Carolina, it’s very difficult to imagine Donald Trump winning.”

Since early voting began in North Carolina on Thursday, more than 1.7 million votes have been cast, including more than 828,000 votes from individual voters. Within days, nearly 20 percent of the state’s electorate cast their ballots.

The candidate urged residents to vote in a number of ballot races aimed at major Democratic victories, including the US Senate race between Republican Senator Tom Tillis and his Democratic opponent Cal Cunningham.

Biden said, “Don’t vote for me and Senator Harris.” “You have a race for governor, a race in the Senate, a record number of black women on the ballot, Congress and the deputy governor, the commissioner of labor and the courts.”

Biden stressed that “times are tough” in the United States and North Carolina, especially among communities of color.

“How do we break that cycle where in the good times, you get left behind, in the bad times, you get hit harder and first?” “The answer is fair,” said Biden.

Nearly 20,000 people claimed unemployment benefits in the state last week, up more than 22 percent from the previous week – the second consecutive week of jobless claims surging. Unemployment claims peaked during the pandemic of more than 170,000 in March.

He criticized the White House response and the failure of the president’s efforts to negotiate relief for unemployed Americans facing a potential rental crisis and looming health care threats.

“The president has known how bad this virus is since January, and I’m hiding it from you,” Biden said. His excuse is that he does not want Americans to panic. Americans are not afraid. Donald Trump is panicking. “

In his bid to expand the Affordable Care Act, Biden condemned Republican-led efforts to assert the president’s nominee for the Senate Supreme Court “rather than meet the substantial economic needs of local communities.”

He said, “It’s about wiping Obamacare’s book out of books.”

Democrats have argued that the appointment of Amy Connie Barrett to the nation’s Supreme Court may tip the court in favor of the Trump administration’s attempt to repeal the law, which could eliminate health insurance for millions of Americans without an alternative measure the president has claimed is imminent.