section_path: Presidency (2021–2025)/Age and health concerns
section_name: Age and health concerns
paragraph_text: Age and health concerns
  
  As of 2025, Biden was the oldest sitting president in U.S. history. His cognitive health was perceived to have declined by Republicans and some media figures, and privately by some Democrats. Members of Biden's family and White House staffers insulated Biden from scrutiny of his advanced aging and decline in acuity.
  
  The media widely covered public concern about Biden's mental acuity after a weak performance in a June 2024 presidential debate, but gave it limited coverage beforehand, in part due to harsh pushback from White House officials. Biden repeatedly said he was fit to serve two terms as president, but later acknowledged that he may have been too old to serve a second term.
  
  As part of the investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents, special counsel Robert Hur said that Biden did not remember when he was vice president ("if it was 2013—when did I stop being vice president?") or when his son Beau died. Hur wrote that his memory "appeared to have significant limitations".
  
  On July 21, 2022, Biden tested positive for COVID-19 with reportedly mild symptoms. According to the White House, he was treated with Paxlovid. He worked in isolation in the White House for five days and returned to isolation when he tested positive again on July 30, 2022. On July 17, 2024, Biden again tested positive for COVID-19.
  
  As of 2025, Biden was the oldest sitting president in U.S. history. His cognitive health was perceived to have declined by Republicans and some media figures, and privately by some Democrats. Members of Biden's family and White House staffers insulated Biden from scrutiny of his advanced aging and decline in acuity.
  
  The media widely covered public concern about Biden's mental acuity after a weak performance in a June 2024 presidential debate, but gave it limited coverage beforehand, in part due to harsh pushback from White House officials. Biden repeatedly said he was fit to serve two terms as president, but later acknowledged that he may have been too old to serve a second term.
  
  As part of the investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents, special counsel Robert Hur said that Biden did not remember when he was vice president ("if it was 2013—when did I stop being vice president?") or when his son Beau died. Hur wrote that his memory "appeared to have significant limitations".
  
  On July 21, 2022, Biden tested positive for COVID-19 with reportedly mild symptoms. According to the White House, he was treated with Paxlovid. He worked in isolation in the White House for five days and returned to isolation when he tested positive again on July 30, 2022. On July 17, 2024, Biden again tested positive for COVID-19.