
The White House confirmed last Wednesday that President Biden once again tested positive for the COVID-19 virus while campaigning in Las Vegas.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a July 17 statement that the president tested positive earlier in the day after presenting “upper respiratory symptoms.”
Jean-Pierre said the president had been feeling “okay” while attending his first campaign event but a COVID test was administered when Biden’s condition did not improve.
While his symptoms were “mild,” Jean-Pierre said Biden was given a dose of Paxlovid and would be returning to his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to self-isolate.
Biden was expected to address a group of Hispanic voters in Las Vegas at the annual UnidosUs conference later that day. However, his appearance was canceled so the he could fly directly from Las Vegas to Delaware.
Jean-Pierre said in her statement that the president would “continue to carry out all of his duties” while he is in isolation.
As he was leaving Las Vegas, Biden told reporters that he felt good. In a post on the @POTUS X account, the president said that during his self-isolation, he would “continue to work to get the job done for the American people.”
In a preview clip from an interview that was set to air later that day, Biden told BET host Ed Gordon that he would be willing to drop out of the presidential race if “some medical condition” emerged and doctors told him that he had a problem.
Biden also told Ed Gordon that when he said in 2020 that he would be a “transitional candidate” who would serve only one term and then “pass it on to someone else,” he hadn’t anticipated that things would get “so divided.”
Biden said now he believed that he should remain in office because “age brings a little bit of wisdom” and he had demonstrated that he knows “how to get things done for the country.”