US President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID on Wednesday, forcing him to cancel a campaign event in Las Vegas, international news outlets reported. The president’s doctor said that he has only “mild symptoms” of “rhinorhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general malaise.”
Biden told reporters “I feel good” as he boarded Air Force One in Las Vegas to fly back to his beach house in Delaware to “self-isolate.” He was not wearing a mask, nor were the people around him.
Biden has since received a first dose of Paxlovid, an oral antiviral drug commonly administered to elderly and high-risk patients to treat COVID-19.
The White House press secretary stated that Biden would continue to carry out his duties as president during his isolation, adding that Biden is “vaccinated and boosted.”
Biden’s bout of COVID-19 comes amid mounting criticism from within the Democratic party about his continuing to campaign for a second term in the White House, precipitated by concern about his age and physical and cognitive fitness to serve as president of the US.