“And when I was vice president, things were kind of bad during the pandemic,” Biden said. “And what happened was, Barack said to me, ‘Go to Detroit, and help fix it.’ Well the poor mayor, he spent more time with me than he thought he was ever going to have to. God love you.”
Biden was referring to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who took office while Biden was still VP back in 2014.
It sounds like he could only be referring to 2014 and later then? I.e. not swine flu.