In the past week, Georgia reported its highest-ever single-day number of coronavirus cases. The state has now reported more than 450,000 cases and at least 9,000 deaths as a direct result of the virus.

The virus has also changed the issues the four Senate candidates have focused on, not to mention the attacks they’re fielding from challengers, and even the nuts and bolts of the campaign operations they are running.

One aspect of the campaign that vividly illustrates the different approaches to the virus between Perdue and Jon Ossoff, as well as between Loeffler and Raphael Warnock, are the campaign events the candidates are holding.

When Loeffler and Perdue have hosted rallies or get-togethers with supporters, the events have frequently been in restaurants or indoor meeting spaces where social distancing is not possible. While the senators typically do wear masks, most of the GOP supporters attending do not.

A “Defend the Majority” rally in Marietta with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio was so crowded an entire CNN crew left the event out of concern for their health.

Perdue spokesman John Burke said the senator “has consistently urged all Georgians to follow (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines by wearing masks, keeping their distance, and washing their hands.”

On the topic of the Republican’s events, Burke said, “He has been clear in urging his supporters to adhere to this guidance at all campaign events.” Clearly, the guidance is not always followed.

In contrast to the Republicans’ in-person campaigning, which began over the summer, Ossoff and Warnock kept their entire campaign apparatus online until the fall over concern of spreading the virus. Both Democrats began holding limited events in October. Even then, events have always been held outdoors, with masks required for media and supporters alike.

COVID in the Senate

In the earliest days of the pandemic, Loeffler and Perdue were both on hand in the Senate voting on various relief measures as the virus began to spread rapidly across the country.

Both Georgia senators voted in favor of all four coronavirus funding measures that President Donald Trump signed into law during the spring, approving nearly $3 trillion in spending in just six weeks to speed funding to everyone from front-line health care workers to the $1 billion airline industry.

Although both senators accused Democrats of pushing unnecessary spending in the process, Loeffler and Perdue were reliable “yes” votes on the measures, especially when it became clear Trump had agreed to sign deals that Democrats negotiated with the White House.

Included in all that spending were the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which passed in late March. With $1,200 stimulus checks to individuals, along with the Paycheck Protection Program for businesses, and funding for state and local governments, the massive package passed both chambers unanimously.

Although he voted in favor of the CARES package, Perdue made it clear he did not think sending checks to American families was the best policy. In media interviews after the vote, he said that provision was included at Democrats’ insistence.

Citing the stimulus checks and tax credits afforded to American families during the Great Recession, Perdue said the policies had not worked to boost the economy. Perdue told ”PBS News Hour” in July that he preferred a payroll tax cut instead.

“I support that’s better than giving just a direct payment like we did in the first round of CARES,” he said. “I really oppose that because we didn’t see the impact back in ’11 and ’12 when that was done.”

Perdue has become more supportive of individual stimulus, backing recent GOP proposals that include a second round of checks.

Congress acted again in April with $484 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program and additional funding for health agencies, which both senators supported.

During the Atlanta Press Club debate Sunday between Loeffler and Warnock, the senator touted her votes, along with her $1 million personal gift to Phoebe Putney Medical System in southwest Georgia during the height of the spring coronavirus surge.

“I was pleased to support all the relief packages this spring when we were addressing this virus,” she said, adding that the money accounted for $47 billion to Georgia, including $7 billion for hospitals, and funds for 174,000 small businesses.

Through his spokesman, Burke, Perdue also pointed to his vote on the CARES Act as evidence of his response to Georgians’ needs during the crisis, adding that he’s ready to spend more.

“Sen. Perdue is firmly committed to delivering additional support as we work to overcome COVID-19,” Burke said.

But since April, partisan gridlock has prevented the Senate from passing any substantial new federal funding involving COVID-19. Schools, which remain online-only in Atlanta and elsewhere, never saw the kind of funding businesses did from the congressional packages. Restaurants are closing permanently. Unemployment benefits are set to expire for millions of Americans on the day after Christmas.

There may be another vote soon. A bipartisan group of senators is promoting a $908 billion round of funding that includes small-business loans, boosting unemployment insurance and money for vaccine distribution. Georgia’s senators have been noncommittal on whether they would support another round of stimulus and said they are waiting to see what ends up on paper and how the Trump administration reacts.

Asked Sunday whether he would support major new stimulus funding from the Biden administration, Warnock avoided specifics.

“I have stood up for ordinary workers time and time again,” he said. “During this pandemic we call people essential workers, we ought to pay them an essential wage. And we want to provide small business owners ... the assistance and support that they need.”

On Sunday night, Ossoff said new COVID spending should have additional direct stimulus checks for individuals, direct relief for small businesses through the PPP program, with measures to make sure that minority firms have equal access to it and that larger firms are not exploiting that program. He also said there should he “significant financial support” for public health infrastructure, including the CDC, as well as an infrastructure and jobs package to invest in a long-term economic recovery.

Ossoff and Warnock have both accused Loeffler and Perdue of using the COVID briefings they got as senators early in the pandemic to enrich themselves through stock trades, and they did so again in the debates.

Loeffler and Perdue have both said they’ve been cleared by federal investigators, but the attacks from Democrats have morphed into multimillion-dollar ad campaigns, including from the Democratically affiliated American Bridge and others, hammering the issue home with voters against both senators.

‘Listen to the experts’

Throughout Warnock’s campaign, and again during his debate with Loeffler, he has warned that her health care plans would leave millions of Georgians without health insurance, especially those with preexisting conditions caused by health crises such as COVID.

Both senators have supported legislation that would cover Americans with preexisting conditions but also let insurance companies opt out of covering them under certain financial conditions.

“That’s morally wrong,” Warnock said Sunday. “She knows that that junk health care plan that she rolled out has a loophole big enough to drive a Mack truck through.”

Like Warnock, Ossoff used his Sunday debate, even without Perdue in attendance, to advocate for protecting health care insurance for Georgians with preexisting conditions. They also both called for additional relief for small businesses and protections for front-line health care workers.

Along with specific COVID relief, Ossoff and Warnock have made improving health care the primary focus of their campaigns. Both have advocated for adding a public health insurance option to the Affordable Care Act to expand affordability and availability of insurance, as well as for Medicaid expansion to cover low-income Americans.

On COVID specifically, Ossoff has said he’s open to additional lockdowns if the CDC recommends them.

“I will listen to the public health experts,” Ossoff said. “And if they recommend that more aggressive mitigation measures are necessary to save lives, it would be foolish for politicians to ignore their advice.”