US President Joe Biden on Thursday said he is "doing great" and keeping busy after testing positive for COVID-19.
"Folks, I'm doing great. Thanks for your concern. Just called Senator Casey, Congressman Cartwright, and Mayor Cognetti (and my Scranton cousins!) to send my regrets for missing our event today," Biden tweeted on his official @POTUS account on Twitter.
Earlier, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease.
She said Biden has “very mild symptoms” and “will isolate at the White House while continuing to carry out all of his duties fully."
She said Biden has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House "via phone and Zoom from the residence.”
New variants of the highly contagious virus are challenging US efforts to resume normalcy after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions.
The White House released a letter from Biden's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, that said the president has a runny nose and “fatigue, with an occasional dry cough, which started yesterday evening.”
Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated, after getting two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose March 30.
O'Connor wrote in his letter about the president's treatment plan: “I anticipate that he will respond favorably” to Paxlovid “as most maximally protected patients do.”
Jean-Pierre said Biden had last tested negative on Tuesday, and he will stay isolated until he tests negative again.
First lady Jill Biden spoke to reporters as she arrived at a school in Detroit on Thursday, telling them she had just gotten off the phone with her husband.
“He’s doing fine,” she said. "He’s feeling good.”
The first lady, who was wearing a mask, said she tested negative earlier in the day. She will keep her full schedule in Michigan and Georgia on Thursday, though she will be following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on masking and distancing, said Michael LaRosa, her spokesperson.
