Biden, 79, tests positive for Covid... hours after wrongly telling crowd he has cancer
JOE Biden tested positive for Covid yesterday – hours after his latest gaffe in which he said he had cancer.
The 79-year- old President’s press team was forced to deny he had cancer, but later revealed the Covid diagnosis. They said he was suffering ‘very mild symptoms’ including fatigue, a dry cough and runny nose.
The President later tweeted that he was ‘doing fine’ and ‘keeping busy’.
The cancer gaffe has once more raised questions about his cognitive abilities.
Talking about climate change during a visit to Massachusetts, he said emissions from oil refineries near where he grew up in Delaware were the reason why ‘I, and so many other people I grew up with, have cancer’.
The comment sparked panic and shock in Washington.
Tom Bevan, the founder of website RealClearPolitics tweeted: ‘Cancer? This is either the biggest bombshell in presidential history or the biggest gaffe.’
Mr Biden’s deputy press secretary Andrew Bates tweeted that the President’s health exam last year noted his treatment for ‘several, localised non-melanoma skin cancers’.
In the exam Mr Biden’s physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, attributed the President’s skin cancer to time in the sun, rather than exposure to chemicals used by the oil industry.
Dr O’Connor wrote: ‘It is wellestablished that President Biden did spend a good deal of time in the sun in his youth’. Mr Biden was a lifeguard in his teens.
He added: ‘He has had several localised, non-melanoma skin cancers removed.’ The blunder was not the only gaffe that Mr Biden made during the speech as he referred to Glasgow as part of England while talking about last year’s Cop26 climate summit.
Press secretary Karine JeanPierre said Mr Biden was fully vaccinated against Covid and taking anti-viral drugs.
She added: ‘ He will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully.’
‘A good deal of time in the sun’