President Joe Biden tests positive for Covid-19 at a pivotal moment in his reelection campaign.
President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, July 17th disrupting a key campaign event meant to shore up support with Latino voters at a critical juncture in the election.
Biden, 81, was experiencing mild symptoms and has received his first dose of the antiviral drug Paxlovid, according to his doctor.
“I feel good,” Biden, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, told reporters Wednesday in Las Vegas, flashing a thumbs-up before boarding Air Force One to head to his Delaware residence. The president will self-isolate there in line with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.
Biden and his aides have repeatedly cited recent stops on the campaign trail as a demonstration of his vigor as the presumptive Democratic nominee, an attempt to tamp down growing anxieties within the party. Wednesday’s event in Las Vegas – where he was expected to speak at the UnidosUS annual conference – was billed as an example of that direct engagement, in this case with a diverse coalition.
The UnidosUS event, however, came to a screeching halt with the news that the president had tested positive for COVID-19 following an active day participating in an interview and meeting voters at a local supermarket.
“I was just on the phone with President Biden. And he shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon. The president has been at many events as we all know and he just tested positive for Covid,” UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía told attendees, to audible gasps, after Biden was an hour and a half late to his scheduled appearance onstage.
It’s unclear where and when the president contracted Covid-19. But the sudden diagnosis will place him behind closed doors at a time when Democratic lawmakers have been clamoring to see him out front.
With information from CNN
San Miguel Times
Newsroom
