President Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
The mild symptoms and diagnosis protocol for Biden — a 79-year-old with a double boost who is at high risk for serious illness — so far means “work and rest” in the White House for the rest of the day, according to a senior administrative officer. This is the first time Biden has tested positive for Covid-19, and he last tested negative on Tuesday, according to Jean-Pierre. Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Jill Biden tested negative on Thursday.
“This morning, President Biden tested positive for Covid-19. He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and has very mild symptoms. He has started taking Paxlovid,” she said, referring to Pfizer’s antiviral drug, which is available through an emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in people 12 years and older. parent at high risk of serious illness. It requires a doctor’s prescription.
“In accordance with CDC guidelines, he will isolate himself in the White House and continue to perform all his duties fully during that time,” she added.
Harris is expected to maintain her normal schedule. The senior government official said there are no plans and there is no need to transfer executive powers to Harris — as was done for 85 minutes last November, when Biden was under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy.
Biden had no fever on Thursday morning, White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha, to CNN. and dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, wrote in a letter about the president’s condition that Biden was experiencing “mild symptoms, usually rhinorrhea (or ‘runny nose’) and fatigue, with the occasional dry cough, which began last night. .”
Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on an antigen test Thursday morning, part of routine screening, and was later confirmed by a PCR test, his doctor said.
O’Connor noted that the president met the FDA’s criteria for using the antiviral Paxlovid, adding, “I expect he will respond favorably, as most maximally protected patients do.”
“I spoke to him a few minutes ago. He’s fine, he’s fine,” First Lady Jill Biden told reporters in Detroit.
The first lady, her spokesman Michael LaRosa told reporter, will stick to her schedule on Thursday, which includes a stop in Georgia before heading to WIlmington, Delaware. She’s also doubly stimulated, LaRosa said.
Biden received his first two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine ahead of his January 2021 inauguration, his first booster shot in September and his second booster shot on March 30.
Due to his age, Biden is at increased risk for a more serious case of Covid-19, although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say older adults who are fully vaccinated and boosted significantly reduce their risk of hospitalization and death.
Jean-Pierre and Jha are expected to inform the press about the president’s diagnosis later Thursday afternoon.
Covid continues to affect Biden’s administration
A wave of cases among cabinet members, White House staffers and members of Congress has engulfed Washington in recent months.
Vice President Kamala Harris contracted the virus in April. Harris has also been fully vaccinated and double boosted and experienced no symptoms, her spokesperson Kirsten Allen said. The vice president took the antiviral coronavirus treatment Paxlovid after consulting her doctors, according to Allen, and tested negative on May 2, leaving isolation.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice were among the top Biden administration officials to test positive for Covid-19 after the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington in April. The president also attended the dinner and made remarks. All approximately 2,600 guests were required to be fully vaccinated and tested negative on the day of the event.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Second Mr. Doug Emhoff, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Jean-Pierre, former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and several others tested positive during the spring .
White House officials had acknowledged that it was possible the president could contract Covid-19 at some point, but emphasized the precautions being taken to prevent infection.
Covid emergency continues
The president’s infection comes as Covid cases rise again in the US, driven by the most contagious strain of the virus to date – BA.5. More than 1 million people have died from Covid-19 across the country since the start of the pandemic.
The Biden administration is continuing the public health emergency posed by Covid-19 as it seeks new funding from Congress for treatments and vaccines. The public health emergency declaration allows many Americans to obtain free Covid-19 tests, therapeutic treatments and vaccines. Medicare has also relaxed telecare rules so that many more seniors can access such services during filing. And states don’t involuntarily deregister Medicaid residents during filing, in exchange for receiving more generous federal matching funds.
More than two years after the pandemic, Biden has become the second sitting US president to test positive for Covid-19. His mild symptoms so far stand in stark contrast to then-President Donald Trump’s diagnosis before a vaccine was available in 2020 — a Covid infection that led to a multi-day hospitalization at Walter Reed National Medical Center.
Trump announced on October 2, 2020 that he and then-First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for Covid-19, months before vaccines were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Later that day, Trump was transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he spent the weekend and received several treatments. Trump returned to the White House on October 5, 2020.
Biden last underwent an annual physical in November with Walter Reed. O’Connor wrote in a memo that the president “remained fit for duty and fully discharging all of his responsibilities without any waivers or adjustments.”
@ CNN