President Biden tests positive for COVID-19 and cancels visit to Pennsylvania.
While in seclusion at the White House, President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he had tested positive for Covid-19 despite only having moderate symptoms. Biden assured Americans in a video that he is “doing good” and that his ailments are still moderate.
“I bet you heard, and I screened positive for Covid this morning. But I’ve received two vaccinations and two boosters. The symptoms are not severe, and I appreciate your questions and worries. However, I’m doing ok and accomplishing a lot of stuff. I’ll keep working on completing it, and meanwhile, thank you for your care and perseverance.
The 20-second video, which the White House claims was shot by a masked and socially awkward filmmaker, features Biden, who is exposed while walking outside on Truman Balcony.
Per a senior administration official, Biden will spend the rest of the day in isolation and “working and relaxing” at the White House residence due to his mild symptoms and prognosis protocol. As a double-boosted 79-year-old, Biden is at a high risk of developing a severe illness. According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, this is the first time Biden has screened positive for Covid-19. He most recently tested negative on Tuesday.
In the hours following his diagnosis, Biden called a number of people. Following the positive test, he tweeted Thursday evening that he was “feeling well”. He had called Pennsylvania officials to express his sorry for having to postpone a trip to the state. An image of the President grinning at a desk in the White House residence sans a mask was posted alongside the tweet.
Following the successful outcome, Biden will work by phone and video conferencing for the ensuing few days, according to information distributed to staff that CNN was able to get.
Day Zero
Biden, whose Covid-19 test came back positive on Thursday morning, has started taking the antiviral medication Paxlovid, which is only authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of mild cognitive Covid-19 in patients 12 years of age and older who are at high risk of developing severe illness. It needs a prescription from a doctor.
In accordance with (US Center for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendations, Jean-Pierre said in a statement, “He will isolate in the White House and will keep carrying out all of his duties fully across that period.”
The President will remain in seclusion until at least next Tuesday in line with the CDC’s recommendations because Thursday is “Day 0” of his Covid-19 schedule.
Per a letter from the President’s doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the President’s complaints include “rhinorrhea (or “runny nose”) and weariness, with an infrequent dry cough, which started another evening.” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, told CNN that Biden did not have a temperature on Thursday morning.
Later, Jha told reporters that Thursday morning, Biden’s oxygen concentration was “normal” and that a sample of the Covid-19 virus had been submitted to a lab to determine the particular strain with which he is afflicted. In “less than a week,” the results are expected.
As part of routine screening, Biden first returned positive for Covid-19 on a Thursday morning antigen test. According to his doctor, the adverse result was later confirmed by a PCR test.
O’Connor added, “I think that he will react positively because most fully protected patients do,” after noting that the President satisfied the FDA’s requirements for using the antiviral Paxlovid.
Despite the CDC’s assertion that older persons who receive a full vaccination schedule and booster shots have a considerably lower risk of hospitalization and death, Biden’s age puts him at a higher risk for a more severe case of COVID-19. Jha stated on Thursday that despite Covid-19’s advanced age, Biden has the “whole set of precautions” to handle the situation.
“The basic finding is that given how much protection he has from vaccinations and how quickly he began receiving treatments,… I believe all of those things majorly lower his risk of developing a serious illness. “Throughout the White House press conference, Jha spoke with Jeff Zeleny of CNN. “And preventing major sickness and reducing that risk are the main objectives here. He has, in my opinion, received the full range of safeguards.”
Before his inauguration in January 2021, Biden took the first two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, his first booster shot in September and his second booster shot on March 30.
Staff adjusts to being Harris, and the first lady sticks to their regular routines
Both first lady Jill Biden and vice president Kamala Harris tested negative on Thursday.
The White House resident staff will take steps to leave a “very minimum footprint” to prevent spreading the infection, according to Jean-Pierre. He said that the West Wing would continue to follow its present policies.
Due to Biden’s positive Covid-19 test, the number of staff members at the White House residences will be cut to the “bare minimum,” an official told CNN.
And according to two reliable sources, a mid-level West Wing employee who worked closely with Biden and accompanied him on his last trip to the Middle East came back positive for Covid-19. The person tested positive early this week and is not thought to be close to the President.
While Biden isolates, Harris is expected to continue with her regular schedule. As was done in November of last year for 85 minutes while Biden was under anaesthesia for a routine colonoscopy, the senior government official stated that there were no intentions and no need to shift presidential authority to Harris.
In the hours following his diagnosis, Biden called a number of people. Following the positive test, he tweeted Thursday evening that he was “feeling well” and that he had called Pennsylvania officials to express his sorry for having to postpone a trip to the state. An image of the President grinning at a desk in the White House residence sans a mask was posted alongside the tweet.
Following the successful outcome, Biden will work by phone and video conferencing for the ensuing few days, according to a document distributed to staff that CNN was able to get.
According to a White House insider who spoke to CNN, Biden’s close friend Harris has been named. Harris last saw Biden on Tuesday, and on Thursday, she tested negative. She was in direct association with a different aide, because they talked for more than 15 minutes while going through the daily brief for the President. The White House representative noted that Harris would adhere to CDC recommendations for immunized individuals, including using a snug mask around people for ten days after the last close encounter.
Following the diagnosis on Thursday, the first lady and vice president stated to have spoken with the President.
Earlier on Thursday, Jill Biden told reporters in Detroit that she had spoken to President, “He is going well. He is in good spirits.”
According to her spokesman Michael LaRosa, the first lady will adhere to her original plan on Thursday, which calls for a stop in Georgia before moving on to Wilmington, Delaware. She has two boosts, according to LaRosa. At a meeting in North Carolina on Thursday afternoon, Harris added that the President “is in great spirits.”
She told the audience that Biden had told her to “say hello to everyone” when speaking from the White House and that he was “happy that we are all in it together today.”
Future presidential travel has been cancelled.
Biden’s scheduled trip to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, later on Thursday for a lecture on crime prevention has been postponed, a White House official told CNN. Biden was supposed to be the featured speaker at a DNC fundraiser on Thursday night.
It is not yet known if the event will be postponed or if sponsors will be forced to fulfil their financial commitments. On Monday, Biden was supposed to visit Orlando and Tampa in Florida, but it now seems like he’ll be spending time alone.
Over the past year, because the White House changed its strategy to the pandemic, Biden has increased his involvement with the public. On Wednesday, in Somerset, Massachusetts, Biden attended a climate executive action conference. He was spotted mingling with attendees outside and shaking hands with them.
Less than a week after making a swing through the Middle East, where he met with global leaders in Israel and Saudi Arabia, the President received a positive diagnosis. Biden was observed embracing other leaders, shaking hands, and pumping fists when travelling.
Since Biden’s positive Covid test, the White House has been focusing on contact monitoring for people who could have been close friends of his. On Thursday, they want to alert all close contacts, including congress members and the media.
After seeing Biden in Massachusetts, at least one congressperson who was a close contact got a contact tracking call from the White House on Thursday.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the White House contacted the lawmaker’s office on Thursday afternoon and suggested that the congressperson adheres to the CDC guidelines for what people should do when they are identified to be close contacts.
For instance, wearing a properly fitting mask around other people for ten days following the last close touch is suggested for someone who is fully immunized and was in close contact.
The White House got ready for this situation.
Since many believed that Biden would contract Covid at some point, White House staff have been prepared for months.
A flood of cases swept through Washington through the spring and early summer, including those involving Harris, White House employees, and Congressmen. And as more of his high leaders and family members fell ill with Covid, officials began to worry even as they made precautions to protect the President from being sick that he would catch it.
In his message to the staff on Thursday, Klain stated that White House officials, “We’ve been preparing for this eventuality because we’ve been saying for a while that there’s a good chance the President might acquire Covid, just like everyone else. We are currently carrying out our strategy so that the President can carry on conducting business as usual from the Residence.”
At Walter Reed National Medical Center, Biden last had his yearly checkup in November. The President is still “fit for duty, and completely executes all of his tasks without any exceptions or accommodations,” according to O’Connor’s memo from the time.
The day after Biden tested positive, officials had a flexible plan in place that included notifying the public when the results were verified and publishing a letter from Biden’s doctor, both of which happened on Thursday.
On October 2, 2020, at 1 a.m. ET, then-President Donald Trump tweeted that he and first lady Melania Trump had both returned positive for Covid-19. Additionally, Biden administration officials have made a point of being more open about Biden’s illness while considering how the past admin handled Trump’s diagnosis.
Biden is now the second serving US president to fail the test for Covid-19, more than two years into the outbreak. His subtle symptoms are in marked contradiction to Trump‘s diagnosis in 2020, which was a Covid infection requiring a lengthy hospital stay at Walter Reed.
Covid emergency still exists.
The President’s infection occurs when Covid cases are again on the increase in the US, propelled by the virus’s most contagious strain to date, BA.5. Since the start of the pandemic, Covid-19 has stated the lives of more than 1 million people globally.
The Biden governance is still grappling with the Covid-19 public health emergency and is asking for more money from Congress for drugs and vaccines. Numerous Americans are entitled to free Covid-19 screening, medical care, and immunizations because of the declaration of a public health emergency. Medicare has eased the rules governing telemedicine in order to make it possible for more seniors to access them during the representation. States are not forcibly withdrawing people off Medicaid during the announcement in return for receiving more favourable federal matching funds.
Edited by Prakriti Arora
