President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, disrupting a key campaign
President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, disrupting a key kampanye moment meant to shore up dukungan 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 perasaan good," Biden, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, told wartawans 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 Kontrol and Prevention guidance.
Biden and his aides have repeatedly cited recent stops on the kampanye trail as a demonstration of his vigor as the presumptive Democratic nominee, an attempt to tamp down growing anxieties within the party. Wednesday's moment in Las Vegas - where he was expected to speak at the UnidosUS annual konferensi - was billed as an example of that direct engagement, in this case with a diverse coalition.
The UnidosUS moment, 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 interviu and rapat 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 gabung us this afternoon. The president has been at many moments 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 analisis will place him behind closed doors at a time when Democratic lawmakers have been clamoring to see him out front.
The CDC recommends staying home until the infected individu has been without a fever - with no fever-reducing medicine - for at least 24 hours and symptoms have been improving for 24 hours. It then recommends wearing a mask for five days after.
