CNN: Next Democratic Debate Will Not Have Live Audience Due To Coronavirus Concerns

The next Democratic debate, the first match up solely of Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, also will be different in that it will lack a live audience.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer announced that the event, scheduled for Sunday in Phoenix, will no longer include a crowd of spectators. He said that at the request of both campaigns, they scrapped plans for an audience. The format originally included plans for the candidates to take questions from the crowd.

CNN also said that they will not have a press filing center or a spin room, which are typically big parts of the set up for debate events.

The event will take place at the Arizona Federal Theatre, with Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Univision’s Jorge Ramos as moderators. CNN and Univision are cohosts of the event, which is sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee and CHC Bold, the political action committee of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The debate will take place in advance of the Arizona primary, as well as presidential contests in Florida, Illinois and Ohio.

The Biden and Sanders campaigns cancelled plans for rallies on Tuesday night in Cleveland.

In recent days shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune have announced that they would go forward with productions sans live audiences, out of concern of the transmission of the virus.