Joe Biden Tests Positive For COVID

About

Joe Biden Tests Positive For COVID refers to U.S. President Joe Biden getting COVID-19 in a diagnosis announced in July 2022. After the news broke on social media sites like Twitter, many memes surfaced about it, predominantly speculating about Biden dying and Vice President Kamala Harris having to replace him. Additionally, 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.

History

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).

An update from me: pic.twitter.com/L2oCR0uUTu

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 21, 2022

Online Reactions / Joe Biden COVID Memes

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

Other Twitter 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, Twitter^[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).

Twitter meme circles also started to reference VP Kamala Harris and her imagined reactions to the news. For instance, on July 21st, Twitter^[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). Twitter^[9] user LouAye_ tweeted a meme with similar intent, instead using an image of Peter Griffin smoking a cigarette and earning roughly 1,300 likes in three hours (shown below, right).

Fake Donald Trump Statement On Joe Biden Getting COVID

On July 21st, 2022, Twitter^[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 Twitter users did not realize that the image was photoshopped and satirical. Instead, they believed that Trump had actually written it. Many of these reposters were influential political figures that were supporters of Trump and his conservative politics.

For instance, Twitter^[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 Twitter^[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).

Twitter^[13] user ddale8 then tweeted evidence that the statement was fake, citing Twitter^[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 Twitter 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).

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External References