Donald Trump cites Barron Trump’s coronavirus case in arguing for schools to reopen

President Donald Trump, right, and his son Barron Trump 

Credit: AP

Mr Trump has sought to convince states to reopen schools and return to normal, but teachers’ unions have fought the move, arguing that teachers could be infected by their students. Funding for protective measures at schools has been caught up in a partisan fight in Washington.

Mr Trump’s Iowa stop is part of a barnstorming tour across states critical to deciding who will win the Nov. 3 election. He is trailing Mr Biden in national and some battleground state opinion polls.

"Twenty days from today, we’re going to win this state," Mr Trump said on a windy night in Des Moines, where many in the crowd were not wearing masks to guard against the virus that has killed nearly 216,000 Americans.

On Thursday he will be in North Carolina and Florida, on Friday he will campaign in Florida and Georgia and on Saturday he will speak in Michigan and Wisconsin.

All of these are states he won in 2016 but are in danger of going to Mr Biden this year, potentially denying Mr Trump a second term.

He is expected to spend Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, and then swing through western states.