LAS VEGAS — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday during a trip to Las Vegas and is experiencing “mild symptoms” including “general malaise” from the infection, the White House said.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will fly to his home in Delaware, where he will “self-isolate and continue to fully perform all his duties during that time.” The news was first shared by Janet Murguía, president and CEO of UnidosUS, who told guests at the group’s convention in Las Vegas that the president had sent his regrets and could not appear because he had tested positive for the virus.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, said in a note that Biden, 81, “presented this afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms including rhinorhea (runny nose) and nonproductive cough, with general malaise.” After testing positive for COVID-19, Biden was prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid and has taken his first dose, O’Connor said.
Biden was scheduled to speak at a UnidosUS event in Las Vegas on Wednesday afternoon as part of an effort to mobilize Hispanic voters for the November election. Instead, he headed to the airport to fly to Delaware, where he had already planned to spend a long weekend at his Rehoboth Beach home.
The president’s diagnosis comes amid intense scrutiny of his health and stamina following a disastrous debate with former President Donald Trump that led to a a flash of concern There is a sense among Democrats that Biden is not up to the challenges of winning another presidential term.
Biden carefully boarded Air Force One, telling reporters traveling with him, “I feel good.” The president did not wear a mask as he walked onto Air Force One.
The president previously visited the Original Lindo Michoacan restaurant in Las Vegas, where he welcomed guests and conducted an interview with Univision.
Biden has been vaccinated and is currently receiving his recommended annual booster dose for COVID-19. The vaccines have been highly effective at reducing severe illness and death from the virus, which has killed more than 1 million people in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Paxlovid has been shown to reduce the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 when prescribed in the early days of an infection, but has also been linked to rebound infections, where the virus returns a few days after it has cleared up.
Biden last tested positive for COVID-19 twice in the summer of 2022, when he had a primary case and a rebound case of the virus.
Health officials have reported recent increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to COVID-19. There has also been a marked increase in positive test results across much of the country — particularly the southwestern US
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Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Stephanie Nano and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.