Mask, no mask: Biden's pandemic practices vary as COVID risks grow
Most of the time, President Biden doesn't wear a mask, but occasionally he's spotted with one. Sometimes his events are in crowded indoor rooms, other times outdoors.
And through it all over the past two weeks, people close to Biden — if not in “close contact” as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are contracting COVID as part of a wave washing over parts of official Washington.
The White House approach appears somewhat haphazard, at times taking care to go beyond CDC guidelines and at others walking up to the edge of what's recommended. And at least once in the last two weeks, he publicly disregarded his public health agency's advice while visiting Poland.
The president has been spared COVID — so far. He is fully vaccinated and has been boosted twice, but he's nearly 80 years old, putting him at higher risk for a severe case of the disease. And his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, announced Thursday that she tested positive.
Should Biden contract COVID, there would likely be an immediate economic and political shock. And there could be a political price to pay for the president who staked his campaign on keeping America safe from the pandemic.
“If the president contracts the virus, it's going to be a big deal,” said Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University. “And there is this small but real risk of needing to be hospitalized or worse.”
White House aides acknowledge that Biden could become infected. “I do think it is important to note it is possible he will test positive for COVID at some point,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Friday on CNN's “New Day.” “The president is vaccinated and double boosted, and so protected from severe COVID. We take every precaution to ensure that we keep him safe.”
Navigating this new phase of the pandemic is tricky. Biden wants to show Americans they can get back to a normal life which inevitably involves taking more risks — which in turn potentially puts the president in the path of the pathogen.
The CDC has also stopped emphasizing its map of transmission levels, which labels Washington as “high transmission” for the coronavirus. Instead, the public health agency suggests relying on data that includes hospitalizations, which are low in D.C. But that shift masks the COVID risk, health experts say, potentially making people feel overconfident about attending crowded gatherings.
Over the past 14 days, Biden has had at least 18 events where he has interacted with members of the public. including Biden walking around in a crowded mess hall in Rzeszów, Poland, to buck up U.S. troops. That put him unmasked and indoors in a country that the CDC warns Americans to avoid and recommends those traveling to wear masks at all times indoors.
Biden also headlined a packed celebration in the East Room where he pulled close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and invited her back Wednesday for a bill-signing ceremony. Pelosi announced Thursday that she tested positive for the coronavirus.
Eleven of Biden's recent events have been indoors -- typically, but not always, the smaller ones. Seven have been outside. One — a packed celebration of the Affordable Care Act featuring former president Barack Obama — was initially set to be outside but moved indoors amid poor weather in Washington. Obama had COVID in mid-March.
So far, all of the publicly announced cases among lawmakers and top government officials in Washington have reportedly been mild. Democratic leaders have wholeheartedly embraced vaccines, boosters and even second boosters, providing them protections even as many of them have dropped masking and social distancing. The Biden administration has argued that even though the virus continues to circulate, most people who avail themselves of vaccines, boosters and newly available antiviral medications are protected from serious disease.
“They haven't fallen ill -- they've been infected. And I think we need to distinguish infection from disease,” said Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine, pointing to the relatively mild symptoms among the politicians, at least so far. “It underlines the value of the vaccines.”
When the last month is taken into account, Biden has come in contact with at least four people who tested positive either shortly after, or right before, interacting with him. The White House says that Biden tests regularly and they have said they will disclose a positive test if he has one. Also, they say, anyone who will be meeting with Biden, Vice President Harris or their spouses must test beforehand.