2 months ago
33
Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and is now self-isolating in Delaware. While he told reporters he ‘felt good’, his campaign for the White House is teetering. The medical condition not only takes him out of the election campaign but also thrusts his health back into the spotlight read more
 "How Joe Biden’s COVID diagnosis could hurt the US president’s election chances")
US President Joe Biden rubs his nose while greeting shoppers inside Mario's Westside Market grocery store in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has now returned to Delaware and is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. AP
The president of the United States Joe Biden, it seems, can’t catch a break. Amid calls from him to quit the race to the White House, the 81-year-old commander-in-chief has tested positive for COVID-19, and will now self-isolate in Delaware.
Shortly after the news emerged, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Biden had “mild symptoms” and would be returning to Delaware to “self-isolate”. He would continue to carry out his “duties as president during that time”, she said.
The COVID diagnosis doesn’t come at a good time for Biden. He’s facing a growing backlash from within his own Democratic party at his ability to continue campaigning for a second term in the White House. Moreover, it takes him out of the campaign trail at a time when Donald Trump, his rival, is making all the right moves — with the assassination attempt and his appearances at the Republican National Convention.
Biden tests COVID positive
On Wednesday, after an event in Las Vegas, US President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID. White House doctor Kevin O’Connor said that the US president had complained of a runny nose, a cough and “general malaise,” and after attending the campaign event he tested positive.
“His symptoms remain mild,” Dr O’Connor said, adding that Biden’s respiratory rate, temperature and blood oxygen levels all remained normal.
He has returned to Delaware to isolate while he recovers and has received a first dose of the antiviral Paxlovid, according to the US president’s doctor. Notably, this is Biden’s bout with the virus. He first got COVID on July 21, 2022, and experienced mild symptoms.
Before making his way to Delaware, Biden gave reporters the thumbs up and said “ I feel good”.
Biden’s diagnosis comes amid a national surge of COVID-19 and he is the latest in a string of high-profile positive tests in Washington, including Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Representative Barbara Lee.
Cancelled engagements
A COVID-19 diagnosis for Biden at this point, according to some, will hurt him, as it will take him out of the campaign trail. He was primed to speak at a union representing Latino workers — a huge voter base for the Democrats — but has now cancelled that event.
Janet Murguía, the president of UnidosUS conference, told attendees at the conference: “The president has been at many events, as we all know, and he just tested positive for COVID,” she said to audible groans in the audience. “He obviously didn’t want to put anyone at risk and said to tell my folks that we’re not going to get rid of him that quickly.”
Though the speech at the conference was not a campaign event but a White House event, it was expected that the president would use it as an opportunity to shore up Latino support.
According to a CNN report, Biden’s campaign team is worried about how the COVID diagnosis will further affect his election schedule. As CNN’s Dana Bash said, “The Biden team must be feeling that this is the absolute last thing that they need right now and there’s definitely a feeling that Biden and his team just can’t catch a break.”
Pundits believe that as the Republican National Convention wraps up, the people of America needed to see Biden to be out, robust and out there campaigning. But that won’t happen now because of his COVID diagnosis.
Refocus on health
Biden testing positive for COVID also thrusts his health back into the spotlight. His many verbal gaffes throughout his presidency as well as his debate debacle have made many question if, at 81 years of age, Biden is able to cope with the pressures of campaigning as well as his mental acuity.
Many believe that this COVID bout will give people the opportunity to question if Biden can, indeed, handle the physical and mental pressure of election campaigning.
“The timing of this could not possibly be worse,” said a Democrat briefed on internal White House discussions. “It reminds everybody how old Joe Biden is.”
This would come at a critical moment; many within the Democratic party, as well as donors of the party, have asked Biden to step aside from the race to the White House. In fact, earlier on Wednesday, Adam Schiff — the California congressman and Democratic candidate in that Senate race — called for Biden to exit the race, urging him to “pass the torch.”
“A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” Schiff said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
Moreover, there are also reports that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned Biden in private conversations last week about the risk his continued candidacy posed.
However, Biden seems adamant to continue the race. He told the leaders he was the nominee of the party and planned to win, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
Trump on the rise
Biden being tested for COVID also comes at a time when his rival, Donald Trump’s campaign seems to be on the up and up. The assassination attempt on him during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which gave rise to Trump’s now iconic fist-pumping response has, according to many, given him a bump in the polls.
Moreover, his appearance at the Republican National Convention with a bandaged ear has boosted his image among voters. As Bloomberg reports, the events contribute to a growing sense of two campaigns headed in opposite directions: one on the rise and the other in turmoil.
But regardless of it all, Biden remains publicly unfazed about it all. But for many, this might also give him some time to be alone with only those closest to him and, perhaps, to think more about polling, his party’s deep resistance to his nomination and whether, after all this, he’s had enough, as The Politico reports.
With inputs from agencies
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
English (US) ·