US President Joe Biden has temporarily suspended his campaign after testing positive for Covid, the White House said.
Mr Biden was set to attend a conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday evening when he was forced to pull out after experiencing ‘mild symptoms’. The president reportedly told organisers of the UnidosUS Annual Conference that he did not want to put attendees at risk.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden will now fly to his home in Delaware, where he will ‘self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time’.
Janet Murguía, CEO of Hispanic civil rights group UnidosUS, said Biden ‘shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon’ in a phone call.
‘The President has been at many events as we all know and he just tested positive for Covid,’ she said in a statement shared by White House pool reporters.
‘So of course we understand that he needs to take the precautions that have been recommended and he did not obviously want to put anybody at risk.’
She added that Biden told her she ‘wouldn’t get rid of him that easily’, and that he would return to speak at the conference at a later date.
Dr Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, said in a note that Mr Biden was suffering from ‘a runny nose, non-productive cough and general malaise’ and had been prescribed the drug Paxlovid.
Mr Biden was not wearing a face mask as he boarded Air Force One, and gingerly told reporters travelling with him: ‘I feel good.’
The diagnosis comes as the president is facing intense pressure to drop out of the race following a disastrous debate with Donald Trump and numerous gaffes which have called into question his physical and mental health.
During a recent interview on NBC, Biden was asked what would have to happen for him to consider dropping out of the race.
The president responded he would only consider dropping out of the 2024 election if he was diagnosed with a ‘medical condition’ by a doctor.
‘If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem,’ he told the interviewer on Wednesday, shortly before the diagnosis.
Mr Biden’s dogged determination to stay in the race has attracted criticism from both Democratic voters and officials alike, with California congressman Adam Schiff becoming the latest to call on the president to ‘pass the torch’.
Mr Schiff said in a statement: ‘While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch.
‘And in doing so, secure his legacy of leadership by allowing us to defeat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.’
In response to Mr Schiff’s comments, the Biden campaign pointed to what it called ‘extensive support’ for him and his re-election bid from members of Congress in key swing states, as well as from the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses.
Mr 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 upticks in emergency room visits from Covid-19. There has also been a pronounced increase in positive test results in much of the country – particularly the south-western US.
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