No handshakes: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders will be social distancing for tonight's CNN debate

Vanity Fair

Tonight's CNN debate taking place in a Washington, D.C. studio at 8 p.m. ET will likely feature the Democratic presidential candidates already at their podiums, with no handshakes due to the coronavirus. "As Covid-19 sweeps the country, the theater of politics is being completely reimagined," says Joe Hagan. "When viewers flip on CNN to watch the debate at 8 pm, the contrast to the last debate—seven candidates, four moderators, a raucous audience and no coronavirus—could not be more stark. Against the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic, the debate, originally slated for a live audience in Phoenix, will be shot from a CNN studio in Washington, D.C. that’s been scrupulously sanitized. Only 10 other people will be in the room. Campaign staffers will be relegated to green rooms in the back. In a way, this is a return to television’s roots. This will be the first presidential debate set in a TV studio with no audience since the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960. And both candidates have stopped holding public rallies, giving tonight’s event even more importance. The debate studio—where CNN’s Wolf Blitzer ordinarily reports on election nights—will be unusually quiet, with no choreographed handshake at the outset." UPDATE: Watch Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders bump elbows as they enter the stage.