Biden tests positive for Covid-19, cancels campaign speech
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US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 while on a campaign trip to Las Vegas and is experiencing mild symptoms.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden, under fire from fellow Democrats to drop his re-election campaign, tested positive for Covid-19 while on a trip to Las Vegas on July 17, and is experiencing mild symptoms, the White House said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the positive test for the 81-year-old Democrat after the president of UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights organisation, said Mr Biden would not be able to speak at a scheduled event due to the diagnosis.
“He is vaccinated and boosted, and experiencing mild symptoms,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.
The President’s symptoms include a runny nose, cough and “general malaise”, according to a note from the White House attributed to Mr Biden’s doctor.
He was prescribed and took his first dose of Pfizer’s Paxlovid antiviral medication. He had a normal temperature, respiratory rate and pulse oximetry.
Minutes after the announcement, the President’s motorcade was on the move from taping a radio interview in Las Vegas to the Las Vegas airport.
The President was returning to Delaware to self-isolate, the White House said.
Mr Biden flashed a thumbs-up to reporters and said he felt “good”, before boarding Air Force One minutes after his diagnosis was announced. He walked slowly up the steps while boarding the presidential aircraft.
He had just greeted a couple of dozen people at a Mexican restaurant prior to going behind closed doors for the interview. When Mr Biden was late for the start of the UnidosUS event, the organiser announced he had tested positive.
Mr Biden spent two nights in Vegas on the campaign trail.
He is locked in a battle with some fellow Democrats who worry he is too old to seek re-election
He suffered a blow earlier in the day when a prominent Democratic member of the US House of Representatives, Mr Adam Schiff of California, said it was time for Mr Biden to “pass the torch” to someone else.
Some 40 per cent of Democratic registered voters said Mr Biden should drop his re-election bid, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on July 16. Some 65 per cent of independent registered voters agreed with them.
Some 58 per cent of Democratic registered voters told the poll they believed Mr Biden was too old to work in government – and 70 per cent of independent registered voters agreed.
The White House cited Mr Biden’s doctor as saying he had been suffering from upper respiratory symptoms earlier in the afternoon.
“He felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for Covid-19 was conducted, and the results were positive for the Covid-19 virus,” the statement said.
Mr Biden’s illness comes as the President for weeks has blamed a cold and jet lag for his poor performance in the debate against Trump on June 27.
Mr Biden reaffirmed his decision to remain in the race in a July 16 interview with BET News, but allowed that significant health issues could cause him to reconsider.
“If I had some medical condition that emerged – if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,” Mr Biden said.
He also contracted Covid-19 in July 2022,
