First lady Jill Biden‘s COVID-19 diagnosis is bringing renewed attention to President Joe Biden‘s age and the pandemic-era policies he at one time championed ahead of next year’s election.
Although the first lady’s COVID-19 case is mild, her diagnosis has cast a cloud of uncertainty over the health of 80-year-old Joe Biden, who spent part of the weekend with her at Rehoboth Beach. He has tested negative multiple times, according to the White House, and is continuing with his regular schedule, but the diagnosis has raised the “salience” of the president’s health and could “worry voters concerned about his age,” according to Costas Panagopoulos, Northeastern University’s political science chairman.
LABOR DAYS: BIDEN FACES GOP PRESSURE TO ORDER FEDERAL WORKERS BACK TO THE OFFICE
The diagnosis, which coincides with a national rise in cases, cuts both ways though, he warned, and simultaneously reminds voters of former President Donald Trump‘s management of the pandemic and may “alarm those who perceived Trump’s response to be poor.”
“The last thing Trump wants to talk about on the campaign trail is COVID, but he may have no choice if cases continue to rise,” he told the Washington Examiner.
As for Biden, Claremont McKenna College political science professor and former Republican aide John Pitney emphasized that “right now, the president is healthy.”
“The impact of COVID will depend on severity,” he said. “At current levels, it is not a major political issue, but a surge, such as we saw in early 2021, could present big political problems.”
Democratic strategist Stefan Hankin said it was a “plus” that approximately 95% of the public has “some form” of immunity to COVID-19, but he added that any optimism regarding the virus, which disproportionately kills older people, may be premature if it morphs. Joe Biden last contracted the coronavirus last summer.
“Views on vaccines and health seem to be baked in, and it is tough to see how the GOP could use the spread of the virus to their advantage given the past positions of downplaying and ignoring,” he said. “That being said, I wouldn’t be shocked if somehow we start seeing ads that tie the ‘border crisis’ to the increased COVID numbers.”
Regardless, Republicans amplified Biden’s decision to heed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advice and resume wearing a mask inside Tuesday during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, though he removed his face covering for his remarks and did not put it back on to award the medal. Their criticism coincides with scrutiny, both on the campaign trail and in Congress, of the decision by some companies and localities to re-implement mask mandates in response to the recent spike in COVID-19.
“Mask and vaccine mandates are popping up once again as Joe Biden’s federal government is trying to take the reigns [sic] of your life (again),” Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R-FL) campaign messaged supporters on Tuesday. “As president, Ron DeSantis will never let the Deep State bureaucrats lock you down.”
After a Washington, D.C., area public elementary school reimposed a mask mandate on Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to state, “Never again.”
Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Monday after the first lady’s diagnosis and again on Tuesday morning and has not complained of any symptoms other than a cough, per White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. The country’s oldest president will test until and after his scheduled departure Thursday for the G20 conference in New Delhi, India, Jean-Pierre said.
But the press secretary became irritated by repeated questions about his testing cadence, was unable to identify the type of test he was taking, and declined to speculate about contingency plans for the foreign trip should he test positive.
Jean-Pierre additionally defended Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine program despite skepticism since this year’s shots will not be approved by the Food and Drug Administration and CDC until later this month. RealClearPolitics found the president’s approval rating related to the virus has decreased to an average net positive of 6 percentage points, with 49% approval to 43% disapproval, after he pledged in 2020 that he would “shut down the virus.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“As we head into the fall, we have more tools and systems available today to help communities this fall and winter season, including safe, updated vaccines that will be available mid-September, widely available at-home COVID tests, widely available effective treatments, which can reduce the risk of severe illness, hospitalizations, and death,” the press secretary told reporters Tuesday. “We will be encouraging, as I have said before, Americans to get their updated COVID-19 vaccine, in addition to their annual flu shot and also RSV vaccines.”
“We know that these vaccines work. We know when people stay up to date with their vaccine, that works,” she said. “We are in a very good position to deal with COVID-19 in the fall, and we’re going to continue to listen to the experts as we move forward.”
