CNN
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President Joe Biden tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, halting a key campaign event aimed at bolstering support among Latino voters at a crucial moment in the election.
Biden, 81, is experiencing mild symptoms and doctors say he has received his first dose of the antiviral drug Paxlovir.
“I’m feeling great,” Biden told reporters in Las Vegas on Wednesday after receiving both his vaccine and booster shots, giving a thumbs up before boarding Air Force One for the flight to his home in Delaware, where he is self-isolating under the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden and his aides have repeatedly cited his recent campaign hiatuses as a sign of his vitality as the Democratic front-runner and an attempt to assuage growing anxiety within the party. Wednesday’s event in Las Vegas — where Biden was scheduled to speak at the UnidosUS annual conference — was touted as an example of direct engagement, this time with a diverse coalition.
Pool
President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he prepares to board Air Force One in Las Vegas after testing positive for COVID-19 on July 17, 2024.
But the Unidos US event came to a screeching halt with the news that the president had tested positive for COVID-19, after a busy day participating in interviews and meeting with voters at a local supermarket.
“I was just on the phone with President Biden, and he expressed his deep disappointment that he will not be able to join us this afternoon. The president, as we all know, has attended a number of events and has tested positive for COVID-19,” Unidos US President and CEO Jeanette Murguía told attendees in audible surprise after Biden was delayed an hour and a half from his scheduled appearance on stage.
It is unclear when or where the president contracted the virus, but his sudden infection has forced him to conduct official duties behind closed doors at a time when Democratic lawmakers have been clamoring for him to return to public life.
The CDC recommends that infected people stay home until they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medication and their symptoms have improved for 24 hours, and then wear a mask for five days after that.
As for Biden’s upcoming schedule and ability to engage, a White House official told CNN that the president has been infected with COVID-19 before and weathered it through frequent video calls, and more of that is expected in the coming days, the official said.
Campaign officials told CNN that the Biden campaign has recalibrated and plans to operate remotely as much as possible.
Biden continued calling a key group of lawmakers last weekend from his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, but some lawmakers remain deeply concerned about his viability as a nominee.
The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump appeared to put a pause on public calls for Biden to step down as his party’s presumptive nominee, but they picked up again when Biden began campaigning again this week.
Just hours before the White House announced Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis, California Senate candidate and former House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff became the most prominent Democrat to publicly call on the president to drop out of the race.
The path forward remains in flux within the party, with fears that Biden will not be able to beat Trump after his dismal performance in last month’s debate and risk losing the Democratic ticket to a lower-tier candidate in November. Trump is due to formally accept the GOP presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week.
Despite Biden’s infection, Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to campaign as scheduled in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Thursday, an administration staffer said Wednesday evening. Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, but the vice president tested negative for the virus at the time.
Biden was seen without a mask on Wednesday before boarding Air Force One, but he wore a mask in the car and then again on the flight to Delaware, a White House official said.
According to a doctor’s note provided by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden was experiencing “upper respiratory symptoms including runny nose, dry cough and general fatigue.”
“He felt fine at the first event of the day, but as he was not feeling better, a point-of-care COVID-19 test was administered, which came back positive for the COVID-19 virus,” the note continued.
The president first tested positive for COVID-19 in July 2022 and then developed so-called rebound symptoms a second time within days.
Biden has received multiple booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a doctor’s note, most recently in September 2023. During his initial infection, he experienced mild symptoms including a runny nose, fatigue, high fever and cough, and was treated with Paxlovidone.
According to the CDC, levels of COVID-19 infections have been increasing nationwide in recent weeks. The most recent data shows that emergency room visits due to COVID-19 increased 23.5% in the week ending July 6 compared to the previous week. The CDC also reports that as of July 6, levels of COVID-19 virus activity in wastewater are high nationwide.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Dana Bash, MJ Lee, Eva McKend, Sam Fossum, Katia Hetter and Megan Trimble contributed to this report.
