Biden tests positive for COVID, will return home to Delaware

President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to statements from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and the president’s doctor.

“Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19,” Jean-Pierre wrote in her statement. “He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms.”

Biden will return to Delaware to isolate while continuing to work, and the White House will provide “regular updates,” she said.

An accompanying statement from the president’s physician said that Biden began experiencing a runny nose, cough and “general malaise” on Wednesday afternoon.

“He felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for COVID-19 was conducted, and the results were positive for the COVID-19 virus,” the doctor’s statement said, later adding that a PCR confirmation test is pending.

“His symptoms remain mild, his respiratory rate is normal at 16, his temperature is normal at 97.8 and his pulse oximetry is normal at 97%,” the doctor said. “The President has received his first dose of Paxlovid. He will be self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth.”

Biden arrived at the Las Vegas, Nevada, airport around 3:20 p.m. local time to fly back to the East Coast, according to a White House pool report. The president said he felt “good” before walking “cautiously up the stairs” to Air Force One, according to the report.

Biden previously tested positive for COVID-19 in July 2022 before being diagnosed with a rebound case later the same month.

DC Bureau Chief Jane Norman contributed to this report.

This story was updated at 5:55 p.m. July 17, 2024.