WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House announced Thursday.
Biden is “experiencing very mild symptoms” of COVID-19, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
“He has begun taking Paxlovid,” Jean-Pierre said. “Consistent with [U.S. Centers for Disease Control] guidelines, he will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.”
As the oldest president, at 79, ever to hold the office, Biden’s diagnosis is cause for concern, although his vaccination regimen may help him avoid serious complications from the virus.
He received a fourth vaccine dose on March 30 and was found to be in good health during his annual physical last November.
According to a letter from the president’s doctor released by the White House, Biden tested positive first on an antigen test and had his diagnosis confirmed by a subsequent PCR test. His symptoms were a runny nose, fatigue and “an occasional dry cough that started [Wednesday] evening.”
“The president is fully vaccinated and twice-boosted, so I anticipate he will respond favorably, as most maximally protected patients do,” Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor, the White House physician, wrote.
The president’s positive test comes amid a rise in cases nationally due to the highly contagious BA.5 variant and after a wave of high-profile COVID-19 diagnoses in Washington, as Cabinet members, senior aides and lawmakers have all contracted the virus. Aware of the public’s fatigue with mask mandates and other public health directives, Biden has sought to convince the nation that the resumption of normal — and unmasked — gatherings is fine as long as people have been vaccinated, while urging Congress to approve additional funding to ensure that vaccines and test kits remain available.
Biden’s diagnosis comes just days after he returned from a five-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia and less than 24 hours after he flew with a number of lawmakers and aides to Somerset, Mass., for a speech Wednesday on the need to combat climate change. On returning to Washington, the president took questions from reporters traveling with him and was asked about the rising numbers of COVID-19 infections and what the country should be doing.
“Getting vaccinated,” he replied. When a reporter, standing just a foot away from Biden, asked what he’d say to those who continue to refuse to get vaccinated, he said. “They’ve got a problem ... It’s not in their interest or the public’s interest not to get vaccinated. We have the capacity to control it. They should get vaccinated now.”
First Lady Jill Biden, despite being in close contact with the president, tested negative Thursday morning and kept her schedule, traveling to Detroit. She told reporters with her there that she’d spoken to the president. “He’s doing fine. He’s doing good,” she said.
Biden’s positive test is also a reminder of how difficult it can be to eliminate the potential for infection, even for someone as protected as the president. Everyone who travels or meets with Biden must be tested beforehand, according to the White House, and masks are required in the building.
Former President Donald Trump, whose White House was much more lax about coronavirus mitigation practices such as mask wearing, also contracted the virus while he was in office.
Trump became severely ill. He was given oxygen and an experimental antibody treatment, and he was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for three days.
