President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid on Wednesday, hours before he was set to deliver a speech in Nevada.
“Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed. “He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms. He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time. The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”
The 81-year-old has “upper respiratory symptoms,” including a runny nose, “non-productive cough, with general malaise,” the president’s doctor said.
“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,” Dr. Kevin O’Connor added. “Given this, the President will be self-isolating in accordance with CDC guidance for symptomatic individuals. PCR confirmation testing will be pending. His symptoms remain mild, his respiratory rate is normal at 16, his temperature is normal at 97.8 and his pulse oximetry is normal at 97%. The President has received his first dose of Paxlovid. He will be self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth.”
Biden was supposed to speak at the UnidosUS conference on Wednesday afternoon, but organizers informed a disappointed crowd that he would not appear given the Covid diagnosis. Biden and Maritza Rodriguez, Biden for President Latina adviser, met Nevadans at the Linda Michoacan Mexican Restaurant earlier in the day, where Biden shook hands and greeted voters. The president also had a speaking engagement in North Las Vegas on Tuesday.
The president’s health update comes after a rocky couple of weeks following June’s presidential debate. Biden blamed his bumbling appearance during the debate on a cold, and admitted to NBC, that “I had a bad, bad night. I wasn’t feeling well at all.”
Amid concerns from Republicans and Democrats about the president’s mental acuity, Biden reiterated in an interview on Tuesday that he would only reconsider running for reelection “if I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody — if doctors came to me and said you got this problem, that problem.”
When Biden last contracted Covid in July 2022, he isolated at the White House, where Jean-Pierre said he would “participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence.”
At the time, Biden compared his experience with Covid to that of President Donald Trump’s, who had to be treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center: “He was severely ill. Thankfully, he recovered. When I got COVID, I worked from upstairs in the White House,” Biden said.