On Sunday, March 15, CNN hosted the 11th Democratic Primary Debate in Washington DC. Candidates Senator Bernie Sanders and Former Vice President Joe Biden discussed issues like the status of social security, health care and immigration. 

The event was filmed with no live audience in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This made the atmosphere of the debate a little tenser, as there was no crowd of people reacting to anything either of the candidates stated. 

“It was kind of weird to watch,” said Sydney Thayer, senior. “It would’ve been better if it was a virtual town hall or something along those lines.”

The lack of an audience was possibly part of the reason for the slightly more hostile environment, as the two called each other out on issues that they each denied. For example, Sanders stated that Biden pushed for cuts to social security, medicare, and veteran’s benefits on the senate floor, which he then denied. However, evidence points to Biden stating all of these claims. 

Biden then claimed that Sanders was being supported by nine super PACS, to which Sanders then asked him to name, but Biden refused. This has also been proven to be a false claim. 

A big point of discussion was how they would combat the spread of COVID-19 if they were president. The two candidates spoke on their respective staff working from home, washing their hands frequently, and even bumped elbows instead of traditionally shaking hands before the debate started.

Another major point of discussion was how undocumented immigrants would cope during the Coronavirus crisis. Biden stated that no undocumented immigrants would have to face deportation for seeking medical help, and Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan would cover undocumented immigrants as well. 

Primary voting for candidates will take place in Arizona, Illinois, and Florida on Tuesday, March 17.