In Florida, Biden Says ‘I Wasn’t Surprised’ by Trump’s Diagnosis

As President Trump battled the coronavirus on Monday, Joseph R. Biden Jr. ventured onto the campaign trail, where he wished the president a speedy recovery but criticized his leadership, suggesting that he bore some responsibility for his positive test after flouting public health guidelines around masks and social distancing.

During campaign stops in Miami and later at a town hall event hosted by NBC News, Mr. Biden sought to draw contrasts with his rival on some of the most searing matters of the day for South Florida voters, denouncing Mr. Trump’s stewardship of the pandemic and lashed him for embracing autocrats.

“Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don’t matter, social distancing doesn’t matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them,” Mr. Biden said at the town hall, asked whether Mr. Trump shouldered some responsibility for contracting the virus.

“Quite frankly, I wasn’t surprised,” he said in response to another question.

Mr. Biden, whose campaign said he had tested negative for the coronavirus on Sunday, traveled to Miami to speak to Haitian-Americans, Cuban-Americans and others from immigrant backgrounds, working to strengthen his standing with a range of constituencies in a state widely regarded as a must-win for Mr. Trump.