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Quick Take
President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on July 17. His symptoms remained mild and have since resolved, according to his treating physician. But fueled by days without a public sighting and Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race, social media posts have baselessly claimed that Biden was gravely ill or had a medical emergency.
Full Story
On July 21, President Joe Biden announced he was no longer running for president in the 2024 election. Just four days before, while campaigning in Las Vegas, he tested positive for COVID-19, leading him to fly to Delaware that evening to isolate. He remained in isolation at his beach house and was not seen in public again until July 23, when his symptoms had “resolved” and he tested negative for COVID-19, according to his physician.
Daily letters from Biden’s doctor show that the president never got seriously ill and he continued to perform his duties. But since his COVID-19 diagnosis — and particularly after his announcement that he would no longer seek the presidency — online posts have trafficked in unfounded rumors and speculation about Biden’s health.
“A verified source has informed the Global Press team that Joe Biden is currently in hospice care and is unlikely to survive the night,” proclaimed a July 22 X post later shared on Facebook. The “Global Press” account on X that made the original claim appeared to subsequently delete its account.
Some declared Biden to be terminally ill or even spread rumors that the president was dead.
Others, including conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, pointed to purported reports from local police in Las Vegas to suggest or claim that Biden had or might have had a medical emergency.
According to an unnamed source, Kirk said, “US Secret Service informed LV Metro that there was an emergency situation involving Joe Biden and to close necessary streets so that POTUS could be transported immediately to University Medical, which they began to do in earnest.”
“Then, mysteriously, there was a stand down order and the USSS informed local Vegas PD that they were going to ‘medivac’ POTUS to Johns Hopkins, which they presumed meant fly him back east ASAP,” Kirk’s post continued. “Apparently the rumor mill in the police department was that Joe Biden was dying or possibly already dead.”
Kirk’s speculations were later amplified in a Tucker Carlson video on Instagram. Citing an unnamed, non-medical source, another person online claimed Biden might have had a transient ischemic attack, or a mini stroke.
Former President Donald Trump also chimed in on July 21, baselessly saying on his social media platform, Truth Social, that Biden “never had Covid.”
It’s true, according to local media and a statement from the police department, that a hospital in Las Vegas was on standby to potentially receive the president after he tested positive for COVID-19, and that police proactively shut down roads to ensure safe passage. But this doesn’t mean Biden had a medical emergency. The president never went to the hospital, and according to a letter posted by his treating physician, he only ever experienced mild COVID-19 symptoms. In an email to FactCheck.org, the White House denied that Biden had any kind of medical emergency.
In the afternoon of July 23, Biden appeared on a tarmac and told reporters he was “feeling well” before ascending the stairs to Air Force One to fly back to the White House. This put to rest the most extreme claims about his health, although conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer continued to insist he was dying. Biden is scheduled to address the nation this evening to discuss his decision to exit the 2024 presidential race.
No Evidence of a Medical Emergency
While suspicion has focused on road closures and preparation for a hospital in Las Vegas to possibly receive the president, there’s no evidence that Biden experienced a medical emergency. Instead, the posts appear to have spun contingency plans following Biden’s positive COVID-19 test into conspiracy theories.
“President Joe Biden did not visit UMC last week,” Scott Kerbs, a public relations director for University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, said in a statement to FactCheck.org. “On July 17 at approximately 2:15 p.m., UMC received notification to prepare for a potential medical visit from the president. As Nevada’s only Level I Trauma Center and the hospital tasked with caring for the Commander-in-Chief during official visits to the area, UMC was fully prepared to provide the state’s highest level of care for the president.”
In a local news report on July 17, the hospital’s CEO, Mason Van Houweling, indicated that the hospital prepared for a “medical” issue, rather than a trauma or accident, but did not elaborate further. He praised his hospital’s response, but referred to it as a “non-event.”
Van Houweling echoed that sentiment in another article about the hospital’s preparations, published on July 19 in Becker’s Hospital Review, which noted that the hospital “adjusted its preparation to arrange an appropriate facility and team for medical care based on the specific potential needs identified — in this case, diagnostic requirements.”
Kerbs told us in an email that this was describing “the fact that UMC, as a Level I Trauma Center, adjusted its default preparations from trauma care to general medical care, which involves diagnostics.”
Local police similarly confirmed that they prepared for Biden to travel to the hospital, but explained that it was precautionary.
“The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was notified that President Joe Biden was sick on July 17th during his visit to Las Vegas. We did not know the nature of his illness,” the department told us in an email. “As a precaution, LVMPD proactively began to shut down roads leading to UMC Hospital. The Secret Service then advised LVMPD the President was going directly to Harry Reid International Airport and would be leaving Las Vegas.”
“It has been standard practice for many years, across administrations, for hospitals to be among the wide range of resources that are always put on standby when any president travels,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, told us in an email.
Bates denied that the president experienced a medical emergency, including a mini stroke. “The only medical situation was his covid diagnosis, which was publicly announced,” he said.
A reporter who accompanied the president on the flight back to Delaware did not make note of any kind of medical emergency. Instead, he reported that the flight was “quite bumpy,” and that his request for an informal press briefing was denied. Upon landing, while not looking in the best of health — as might be expected for someone sick with COVID-19 — Biden was still able to walk and speak.
COVID-19 can be dangerous, particularly for older adults and those who have not been infected or vaccinated previously, but all available evidence points to the 81-year-old president’s case as being mild.
Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor, Biden’s physician, provided daily updates on the president’s condition. In his last letter, on July 23, he reported that Biden had tested negative for the coronavirus and his symptoms, which had included a runny nose, cough and general malaise, had “resolved.”
“Over the course of his infection, he never manifested a fever, and his vital signs remained normal, to include pulse oximetry. His lungs remained clear,” O’Connor said of Biden, adding that the president “continues to perform all of his presidential duties.”
Although Biden did not make a public appearance until July 23, he called into his former campaign’s headquarters — now Vice President Kamala Harris’s HQ — on July 22. While in isolation, he also received briefings, spoke to a variety of politicians and supporters following the termination of his candidacy, and made a call to the head of the European Commission, according to White House officials.
As with his first bout of COVID-19 in 2022, Biden took the antiviral Paxlovid to treat his illness.
It’s not the first time that social media claims about Biden’s health have gone viral. Earlier this month, popular posts falsely claimed Biden had a “medical emergency” aboard Air Force One, the AP reported.
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Sources
“Statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.” Press release. White House. 17 Jul 2024.
Letters from Kevin C. O’Connor, Physician to the President. Available from WhiteHouse.gov. 18 Jul to 23 Jul 2024.
Drummond, Cristen. “Las Vegas hospital on standby to treat President Biden during COVID-19 diagnosis.” KSNV. 17 Jul 2024.
Madhani, Aamer. “Biden will address the nation Wednesday on his decision to drop his 2024 Democratic reelection bid.” AP. 23 Jul 2024.
President Biden (@POTUS). “Tomorrow evening at 8 PM ET, I will address the nation from the Oval Office on what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people.” X. 23 Jul 2024.
Kerbs, Scott. Brand and Public Relations Director, University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. Emails to FactCheck.org. 23 Jul 2024.
Gooch, Kelly. “A Las Vegas hospital’s playbook for presidential care.” Becker’s Hospital Review. 18 Jul 2024.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Office of Public Information. Email to FactCheck.org. 23 Jul 2024.
Bates, Andrew. White House spokesperson. Email to FactCheck.org. 23 Jul 2024.
Kanno-Youngs, Zolan. “Travel Pool Report #8 Dover landing.” White House pool report. 17 Jul 2024.
“Biden lands in Delaware after testing positive for COVID.” AP video. 18 Jul 2024.
Kanno-Youngs, Zolan. “From Buoyant to Frail: Two Days in Las Vegas as Biden Tests Positive.” New York Times. 18 Jul 2024.
“The Changing Threat of COVID-19.” CDC. 23 Feb 2024.
“Remarks by President Biden and Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Wilmington, DE.” White House. 22 Jul 2024.
Miller, Zeke and Chris Megerian. “Biden tests positive for COVID.” AP. 21 Jul 2022.Goldin, Melissa. “FACT FOCUS: Online reports falsely claim Biden suffered a ‘medical emergency’ on Air Force One.” AP. 6 Jul 2024.