Joe Biden tests positive for Covid-19, ‘very mild symptoms’, White House says
- US president will continue carrying out his full duties while isolating at the White House, taking part in his planned meetings via Zoom
- The 79-year-old president is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and had begun taking Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill Paxlovid
US President Joe Biden had tested positive for Covid-19 and was experiencing “very mild symptoms”, the White House said on Thursday.
Following the positive diagnosis on Thursday morning, Biden began isolating at the White House and would “continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Biden has also begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug developed by Pfizer, Jean-Pierre said.
In a memo, Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, described the president’s symptoms as mainly a runny nose, fatigue and a dry cough that started on Wednesday evening. Biden last tested negative on Tuesday.
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“The president is fully vaccinated and twice-boosted, so I anticipate that he will respond favourably [to the Paxlovid treatment], as most maximally protected patients do,” O’Connor wrote.
The oldest person in history to be elected US president, Biden, 79, falls within an age category considered to be at “increased risk of severe illness from Covid-19”, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
His most recent physical examination last November found that he was “healthy” and “vigorous” but that he was suffering from a stiffer gait and increased frequency and severity of a persistent cough.
“Folks, I’m doing great,” Biden tweeted on Thursday following news of his diagnosis. “Thanks for your concern.”
A couple of hours later he added a brief video message, saying in part: “I’m doing well, getting a lot of work done … Keep the faith, it’s going to be okay.”
White House Covid-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha told reporters that Biden’s oxygen levels were being monitored “very regularly” and appeared “normal” on Thursday morning.
Biden would return to public engagements only after testing negative, Jha said, indicating a stricter protocol than that recommended by the CDC. Its current guidance allows individuals to end isolation after five days if they are fever-free and other symptoms are improving, regardless of testing status.
A White House official said that Vice-President Kamala Harris – who would lead the country if the president became incapacitated – had tested negative, and had last been with Biden on Tuesday.
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Jill Biden, the first lady, said on Twitter that she had also tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday morning.
Biden now joins a growing roster of world leaders who have contracted Covid-19, including Boris Johnson of Britain, Justin Trudeau of Canada, Emmanuel Macron of France, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Biden’s predecessor as president, Donald Trump.
After becoming infected in October 2020 as the virus tore through his inner circle, Trump was hospitalised for three days when oxygen in his body dropped to a “dangerously low level”, according to his then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
Covid-19 has killed more than 1 million people in the US, and almost 6.4 million worldwide, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Cases are again on the rise across the US, mostly fuelled by a particularly transmissible variant known as BA.5. The country is recording around 126,000 new cases daily, compared to approximately 28,000 at the start of April.
A subvariant of the Omicron strain, BA. 5 now constitutes almost 80 per cent of all cases in the US, according to the CDC. Prior infections of previous variants are thought to offer little protection against contracting the BA. 5 strain.
It remained to be seen which variant Biden had contracted; his viral sample had been sent to be sequenced and a result indicating the variant was expected within a week, Jha said.
Administration officials rejected suggestions that the White House had been too lax in protecting Biden, who has maintained a busy schedule of public appearances and has appeared reluctant to shun contact and proximity with others.
A recent trip to Israel saw Biden begin with fist bumps but soon transition to hand shakes.
“No,” Jha said when asked if Biden had been “too casual” in his public engagements. “The president wants to get out there and meet [the] American people and be engaged … We knew that [a positive diagnosis] was a possibility with this incredibly contagious variant.”
The White House has begun outreach to individuals considered close contacts of Biden, including lawmakers who accompanied him during a visit to Massachusetts on Wednesday.
