Joe Biden tested positive for Covid and was forced to cancel an important election appointment in Las Vegas: he returned to his home in Delaware, in isolation, and will continue to work.
Not a happy moment for the US president. His party has been asking him for weeks to meet more voters live and appear more spontaneous to the public in an attempt to relaunch itself after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. And above all to try to reassure about his advanced age and his state of health, so as to demonstrate that he is capable of continuing the electoral campaign, winning it and governing another four years.
Biden, who is strongly resisting the pressure to leave the race for the White House, declared in one of his last interviews that he could reconsider his candidacy only if "the doctor ordered it".
Now he has assured that he "feels well" despite the virus, even if the images at Las Vegas airport as he climbs the stairs of Air Force One to fly to Delaware show him very slow. The symptoms are "mild", he has no fever and - said the president's doctor - he has started taking Paxlovid, the antiviral drug most used in the United States in these cases. His reassurances are unlikely to calm the controversies within the party and help it in the polls. According to some analysts, he could even reach the decision to withdraw in a few days.
(Unioneonline/ss)