Hours after news broke that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced just after noon Friday that he and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, have both tested negative for Covid-19.
Biden used the occasion to remind people to "wear a mask, keep social distance, and wash your hands."
Biden's accurate public health messaging stood in stark contrast to the dozens of cases of coronavirus misinformation emanating from the Trump administration--revealed in a report released Friday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis that documents the White House's relentless attacks on scientific expertise.
According to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday morning, the president is so far experiencing "mild symptoms" from the virus, though he would not elaborate on what those symptoms were.
During Tuesday night's debate, Trump mocked Biden for consistently complying with the advice of epidemiologists.
"I don't wear masks like him," Trump said. "Every time you see him he's got a mask."
As Common Dreamsreported earlier today, progressive critics have argued that Trump's diagnosis is not a surprise but rather "a direct and foreseeable consequence of the president's months of lying, callous disregard for public health, and catastrophic mishandling of the federal government's pandemic response."