Biden tests positive for Covid, fueling health worries

This photo taken on July 16, 2024 shows US President Joe Biden clearing his throat as he speaks on economics during the Vote To Live Properity Summit at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada. US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms on July 17, shortly after conceding he would consider dropping his reelection bid if doctors diagnosed him with a serious medical condition. Agence France-Presse

LAS VEGAS — US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms Wednesday, shortly after conceding he would consider dropping his reelection bid if doctors diagnosed him with a serious medical condition.

The 81-year-old Democrat gave reporters the thumbs up and said “I feel good” as he cut short a campaign trip to Las Vegas and flew to his beach home in Delaware to go into isolation.

Biden thanked well-wishers on X, adding that “I will be isolating as I recover, and during this time I will continue to work to get the job done for the American people.”

READ: Explainer: Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Is it?

But the infection comes at a critical moment for Biden’s campaign, after a disastrous debate performance against rival Donald Trump sparked concerns about his health and calls from some Democrats for him to step aside

It is also the latest development in a tumultuous few days in an already frenetic White House race that saw his Republican Trump survive an assassination attempt at a campaign rally of his own.

Biden was forced to cancel a speech to a union representing Latino workers who will be crucial for his election bid, having attended a campaign event earlier in the day and given a radio interview.

READ: A raspy Biden tries at debate to confront Trump, who responds with falsehoods

His spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was vaccinated and boosted, was now taking the Covid medication Paxlovid and “continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”

White House doctor Kevin O’Connor said Biden had complained of suffering from a runny nose, a cough and “general malaise,” and after attending the campaign event he tested positive.

“His symptoms remain mild,” O’Connor said, adding that Biden’s respiratory rate, temperature and blood oxygen levels all remained normal.

Biden was seen walking from his limousine to his plane at Las Vegas without a mask. “Good,” he said when asked how he felt, “I feel good.”

Janet Murguia, the president of the Unidos union for Latino workers, told the crowd about the diagnosis shortly before the White House announcement.

“I was just on the phone with President Biden, and he shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon,” she said.

‘I’m sick’

People waiting for the speech said Biden’s health did not worry them despite the Covid diagnosis.

“I think he’s strong and he’s going to recover soon,” Anne Vilagut told AFP.

But Biden’s illness comes as concerns over the fitness of the oldest US president in US history reach fever pitch.

READ: Biden defends ‘mental acuity’ in feisty new interview

Asked what could make him rethink his presidential bid, Biden told the Black media outlet BET in an interview taped Tuesday in Las Vegas: “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if the doctors came and said ‘you’ve got this problem, that problem.'”

Biden has so far refused to drop out, and blamed his debate debacle, when he appeared tired and confused, on a bad cold and jet lag.

But he suffered a major blow on Wednesday when the most high-profile Democrat so far, Representative Adam Schiff of California, urged Biden 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.

US broadcaster ABC News then reported that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had told Biden it would be “better for the country if he were to bow out,” in what would be a fatal blow.

But a spokesperson for Schumer played down the report, saying: “Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation.”

“Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday.”

Biden’s campaign meanwhile made a tongue-in-cheek fundraising opportunity out of the president’s illness — first saying on X “I’m sick” and then following up with the reply “of Elon Musk and his rich buddies trying to buy this election.”

Musk said Saturday he was backing Trump after the assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Biden insists that Democratic voters support him, but a poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research said Wednesday that nearly two-thirds want him to step aside.