(UPDATE: 7/27/22 AT 5:30 P.M. ET): President Biden has officially tested negative following his positive test last week. “I’ve just tested negative for COVID-19 after isolating for five days. Thankfully, I’ll now be able to turn to work in person, but I want to thank you all for your well wishes, your prayers over this past week, and the calls I’ve gotten,” he told his staff from behind a podium located at the White House Rose Garden on July 27, per CBS. “I also want to thank the medical team here at the White House for the incredible care they gave me.”
He then used the opportunity to advocate for vaccines. “When my predecessor got COVID, he had to get helicoptered to Walter Reed Medical Center. He was severely ill. Thankfully, he recovered,” he recalled. “When I got COVID, I worked from upstairs of the White House in the offices upstairs for the five-day period. The difference is vaccinations, of course, but also three new tools, free to all and widely available. You don’t need to be president to get these tools to use for your defense. In fact, the same booster shots, the same at-home tests, the same treatment that I got is available to you.”
(ORIGINAL STORY): This morning, President [Joe] Biden tested positive for COVID-19,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a July 21 statement, per CNN. She said that President Biden, 79, is “fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms. Consistent with CDC guidelines, he will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time. He has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence.”
Shortly after the news broke, President Biden tweeted, “Folks, I’m doing great. Thanks for your concern.” He also posted a video to his Instagram.
Folks, I'm doing great. Thanks for your concern. Just called Senator Casey, Congressman Cartwright, and Mayor Cognetti (and my Scranton cousins!) to send my regrets for missing our event today.
Keeping busy! pic.twitter.com/uf7AsOg571
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 21, 2022
President Biden was scheduled to make a trip to Pennsylvania to discuss his efforts to curb crime before attending a fundraiser in Philadelphia. “Consistent with White House protocol for positive COVID cases, which goes above and beyond CDC guidance, he will continue to work in isolation until he tests negative. Once he tests negative, he will return to in-person work,” Jean-Pierre said. “Out of an abundance of transparency, the White House will provide a daily update on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”
The positive COVID-19 diagnosis comes a day after Joe gave a speech about the threat of global warming. While speaking about the oil refineries near his childhood home in Claymont, Delaware, Biden said that the emissions from the plants are “why I and so damn many other people I grew up with have cancer and why for the longest time Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation.” While some conservative critics jumped on this as Biden disclosing he has cancer, Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler immediately pointed out that before Biden became president, he’d had non-melanoma skin cancers removed.
“It is well-established that President Biden did spend a good deal of time in the sun in his youth,” Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in Biden’s medical report, released in November 2021. “He has had several localized, non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery before he started his presidency. These lesions were completely excised, with clear margins.”