Biden still recovering from COVID-19, staying out of public view after ending 2024 campaign | News, Sports, Jobs

A deer walks past a police blockade of President Joe Biden’s beach house neighborhood, Monday, July 22, 2024, in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s “symptoms have almost completely disappeared” of COVID-19, his doctor said, as the president remained out of public view for a fifth straight day on Monday.

Biden called the Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters of his former campaign during a visit by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose White House bid Biden has endorsed. The president sought to galvanize the staff, urging them to “every piece” of their “heart and soul” to Harris. Biden also promised to “on the road” campaigning for his vice presidency.

“If I didn’t have Covid, I’d be standing there with you,” said Biden, his voice sounding a little hoarse.

The president was last seen in public on Wednesday evening, after arriving at a U.S. Air Force base in Dover, Delaware, after testing positive for COVID-19 while campaigning in Las Vegas earlier that day. He then rode a motorcade to his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said the president took his 10th dose of the COVID-fighting drug Paxlovid on Monday morning and was continuing to perform all of his presidential duties.

“His symptoms have almost completely disappeared. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain absolutely normal,” wrote O’Connor. “His oxygen saturation remains excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear.”

The White House said Biden received separate briefings Monday from homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Both briefings were held virtually.

Biden’s public schedule for the week remains empty as he recovers from the virus, but he did say in his letter Sunday that he plans to deliver an address to the nation this week to discuss his decision to end his candidacy.

Biden plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, according to a source familiar with the president’s schedule who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Biden also plans to meet later this week at the White House with the families of Americans still being held hostage in Gaza, according to a statement from the group of families who met privately with Sullivan earlier on Monday.

It would be the second time Biden has met with the families. The families again publicly urged Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire agreement that would free their loved ones. Biden proposed a three-phase deal in late May that would focus on returning the remaining hostages Hamas took in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel and potentially lead to a permanent truce to end the nine-month war in Gaza.

“We will continue to work to end the war in Gaza,” Biden said this during his phone call to campaign headquarters. “I will work very closely with the Israelis and the Palestinians to try to figure out how we can end the war in Gaza, bring peace to the Middle East and bring all those hostages home. I think we are on the verge of doing that.”

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