Joe Biden Tests Positive For COVID

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Part of a series on Joe Biden. [View Related Entries]

About

Joe Biden Tests Positive For COVID refers to U.S. President Joe Biden getting COVID-19 in two separate diagnoses announced in July 2022 and July 2024. When the news broke on social media sites like Twitter / X, many memes surfaced about it, predominantly speculating about Biden dying and Vice President Kamala Harris replacing him. In 2022, a supposed statement from Donald Trump surfaced from Truth Social about Biden getting the coronavirus. It referred to the virus as the "China virus," however, it was later discovered to be photoshopped, fake and misinformation. President Biden's 2024 diagnosis occurred in the week after the Donald Trump Assassination Attempt and amid speculation that Biden would drop out of the upcoming election. The President announced his diagnosis with a tweet reading, "I'm sick," spawning memes.

History

2022 Diagnosis

On July 21st, 2022, President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19. It was reported on by multiple news outlets such as CNBC,^[1] Fox News^[2] and ABC.^[3] The official update was given in a government statement^[4] from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on July 21st stating, "This morning, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms. He has begun taking Paxlovid."

Later on July 21st, 2022, Biden tweeted^[5] a video that acted as his official announcement and statement. In less than an hour, the video received roughly 467,600 views and 28,500 likes (shown below).

2024 Diagnosis

On July 17th, 2024, Joe Biden was reportedly diagnosed with COVID-19.^[16] On the day, the President tweeted,^[17] "I'm sick," amassing over 178.1 million views and 517,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Online Reaction

2022 Diagnosis

The news hit social media and caused many reactions and memes on July 21st, 2022. Many speculated that Biden might not recover from his COVID-19 symptoms despite them reportedly being "mild." For instance, X^[6] user @comradeaux highlighted Biden's age (79) and history of heart arrhythmias, brain aneurysms and blood thinners. In four hours, the tweet received roughly 1,100 likes (shown below, left).

Other X users compared Biden's diagnosis to former President Donald Trump's and First Lady Melania Trump's positive COVID diagnosis that happened during his presidency. For instance, on July 21st, X^[7] user @JUNIPER remarked that "it is funny that biden has covid, but it will never match how funny it was when trump got covid" in a tweet that received roughly 9,200 likes in four hours (shown below, right).

X meme circles also referenced VP Kamala Harris and her imagined reactions to the news. For instance, on July 21st, X^[8] user @snackieonassis_ tweeted an image macro of actor Steven Van Zandt from The Sopranos, captioning it, "kamala rn," earning roughly 8,100 likes in four hours (shown below, left).

X^[9] user @LouAye_ tweeted a meme with similar intent, instead using an image of Peter Griffin smoking a cigarette, earning roughly 1,300 likes in three hours (shown below, right).

2024 Diagnosis

Reactions and memes surfaced en masse following President Biden's 2024 diagnosis. For instance, on July 17th, X^[18] user @CantEverDie quoted the announcement with a fade-in reaction video of VP Kamala Harris laughing, gaining over 47,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Also on July 17th, 2024, X^[19] user @PushBidenLeft quoted an announcement about President Biden still visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite having COVID with a Let Him Cook meme, making a pro-Palestine joke concerning the 2023-2024 Hamas-Israel Conflict. The quote received over 20,000 likes in a day (shown below, left).

On July 17th, X^[20] user @hausofdecline tweeted, "The COVID coursing through Joe Biden's body is also wearing gun YouTuber merch," referencing the shirt worn by Trump's shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, receiving over 4,800 likes in a day (shown below, right).

Developments

Fake Donald Trump Statement On Joe Biden Getting COVID

On July 21st, 2022, X^[10] user @ING2Firebrand tweeted an image of what appeared to be a statement from Donald Trump uploaded to Truth Social about Biden's contraction of COVID-19. They captioned the image, "AMAZING," and in three hours, it received roughly 19,200 likes (shown below).

Joe Biden, who many have said is our worst President, has come down with a case of the China virus, despite being vaccinated. I hope Sleepy Joe is able to bounce back quickly, much as I was. Doctors described my fight against the China virus as Herculean, and not meaning the woke Disney Hercules but rather the Kevin Sorbo one. The Lou Ferrigno one as well.
Joe, I wish you a speedy recovery, even though you are taking America in the wrong direction. No one wants Kamala!

As @ING2Firebrand's tweet went viral, some X users did not realize it was photoshopped and satirical. Many of the tweet's reposters were influential political figures that were supporters of Trump and his conservative politics.

For instance, X^[11] user @ssharmaUS tweeted the image on July 21st, 2022, with the caption, "He’s still got it," earning over 2,000 likes in two hours (shown below, left).

An hour later, verified X^[12] user @ClayTravis tweeted the image with the caption, "Donald Trump’s statement on Joe Biden testing positive for covid is a work of art," earning over 5,000 likes in one hour (shown below, right).

X^[13] user @ddale8 then tweeted evidence that the statement was fake, citing X^[14] user @pbump as discovering it. @ddale8's tweet received over 400 likes in one hour (shown below, left).

This information circled back to the influential X users that spread the misinformation, like @ClayTravis, who tweeted a reply^[15] to his tweet^[12] on July 21st that read, "This is a parody. But should be the official statement. Still a work of art" (shown below, right).