Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Tests Negative For COVID-19 A Second Time
The Hill: Biden Again Tests Negative For COVID-19
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Sunday, his campaign said. Biden was administered a PCR test, his campaign said, and COVID-19 was not detected. It marked the second time Biden has tested negative since President Trump revealed early Friday morning that he had contracted the coronavirus. The former vice president initially tested negative on Friday, hours after Trump tweeted that he and the first lady had tested positive for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Biden did not make a public appearance on Sunday. (Samuels, 10/4)
Politico: Biden Still At Risk After Debating Trump At ‘Peak Of Contagion’
For more than six months, Joe Biden’s team went to extraordinary lengths to keep their candidate safe, fastidiously following medical guidelines that enabled him to campaign while guarding him from a potentially deadly virus. Now, the Democratic nominee is facing the prospect that the president of the United States himself might have posed the biggest Covid-19 risk to his health since the pandemic began. It could be days before the 77-year-old Biden will be in the clear, despite recent negative tests. The virus can incubate for up to 14 days. (Korecki and Lim, 10/4)
The New York Times: After Biden’s Exposure To Trump, His Team Is Cagey On Health Questions
For months, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has gone to great lengths to model responsible behavior in the coronavirus era. He wears masks in public. He does not hold crowded rallies. When he gives speeches, reporters sit at a distance from one another, with white circles on the ground to mark their turf. These actions have so far helped keep Mr. Biden healthy and able to continue campaigning while President Trump, who mocked masks and held large events, is now hospitalized with Covid-19. But beyond the public examples of safety precautions, Mr. Biden’s health protocols have remained largely under wraps, with his campaign saying little about what steps it is taking to protect the 77-year-old Democratic nominee. (Kaplan, Mandavilli and Glueck, 10/4)
Politico: ‘There’s No Joy In Being Right’: Biden Makes Cautious Return To The Campaign Trail
In the hours after Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19, word spread quickly within Joe Biden’s campaign: There would be no public gloating. Stay off of social media, staffers were told. Avoid conversations with reporters. Don’t make any mistakes. Friday was a day of “hibernation,” as one Biden adviser put it, an approach designed to allow the news cycle to burn on its own fuel. (Korecki, Caputo and Oprysko, 10/2)
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The Washington Post: Debate Organizers Push Ahead Despite Public Health Concerns
Public health experts expressed concern Sunday at the decisions by both presidential campaigns and the debate commission to move ahead with in-person events less than a week after President Trump tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The vice-presidential candidates are still scheduled to convene in Salt Lake City on Wednesday despite last week’s presidential debate resulting in at least 11 positive cases by people involved in preparations and one of the candidates onstage testing positive just two days later. (Scherer, 10/4)
