The premature story went well beyond the type of placeholder draft that news organizations often create for obituaries, featuring wild speculation from “armchair epidemiologists” who conjectured that Pence’s ‘bloody eye’ seen during Wednesday night’s VP debate indicated a coronavirus infection. An anonymous senior Trump administration official has since provided a far more mundane explanation, telling Politico the redness was caused by a burst blood vessel.

The story stoked confusion across the internet, adding to earlier rumors and speculation that Pence had tested positive for the illness after he cancelled a trip to Indiana set for Friday, instead returning to Washington.

A spokesperson for Pence, Katie Miller, slammed the report as “utterly false,” calling Deadline “irresponsible” for the bizarre blunder, while Pence’s press secretary insisted“Nobody's sick. There's no positive tests,” adding “The VP is planning on traveling on Saturday and Monday. We'll have more information on the vice president's schedule next week soon.”

Earlier, Miller sought to dispel theories about Pence’s travel schedule and what it could mean for his health, saying the VP had always intended to return to DC before heading to Indiana, though did not explain the cancelled trip. An adviser for Pence later clarified the decision was linked to a “scheduling issue” and was “definitely not health related.”

The official denials from Pence’s spokespeople have done little to quell the online rumor mill, however, as netizens ran with speculation about the VP’s health status, some voicing rock-solid certainty about a positive Covid diagnosis.