Joe Biden has made his first public appearance for 10 weeks after going into isolation because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Wearing a black mask and dark glasses, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee laid a wreath of white roses at a veterans park near his home in Delaware to mark Memorial Day.
“It feels good to be out of my house,” the 77-year-old told reporters, speech slightly muffled by the face covering. His wife Jill wore a similar mask.
Image:
Mr Biden with his wife Jill
He saluted about a dozen veterans and other onlookers and thanked them for their service, while maintaining a suitable distance.
Mr Biden’s age makes him especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Donald Trump, who will be 74 next month, is in the same category.
The president took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and visited a historic fort in Baltimore. He did not wear a mask at either location.
Despite being forced to campaign from a home TV studio at his house in Wilmington, North Carolina, Mr Biden, the former vice president under Barack Obama, has kept an edge over his Republican rival in national opinion polls ahead of the election on 3 November.
That is partly because the president’s approval ratings have slipped over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 98,000 deaths with COVID-19 in the United States.
Image:
President Trump took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia
Image:
Mr Biden laid a wreath of white roses
Mr Trump has begun to emerge from the White House in recent weeks, visiting Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
At the weekend, he also played golf for the first time since declaring a national emergency in March.
Posting on Twitter on Sunday, Mr Biden said the “presidency is about a lot more than tweeting from your golf cart”.
His campaign did not say whether the Memorial Day appearance was the beginning of more public outings.
