Biden Tests Positive for COVID While on Campaign Trail

President has had his first dose of Paxlovid, physician says, reporting mild symptoms
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 17, 2024 5:35 PM CDT
Biden Tests Positive for COVID, Leave Campaign Trail to Isolate
President Biden carries a mask in his hand as he walks to board Air Force One at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling Wednesday in Las Vegas and is experiencing "mild symptoms" from the infection, the White House said. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will fly to his home in Delaware, where he will "self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time." The president's physician said in a note that Biden "presented this afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general malaise," the AP reports. After the positive COVID-19 test, Biden was prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid and has taken his first dose, Dr. Kevin O'Connor said.

The president's vital signs appeared normal, O'Connor said, per the Washington Post. Biden was slated to speak in Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon. He earlier had been at the Original Lindo Michoacan restaurant in Las Vegas, where he greeted diners and was scheduled to be interviewed by Univision. The news of the infection was first shared by Unidos US President and CEO Janet Murguía, who told guests at the group's convention that the president had sent his regrets and could not appear because he tested positive for the virus. Biden tested positive for COVID twice in 2022. (More President Biden stories.)

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