WASHINGTON — President Biden tested positive on Thursday for the coronavirus, elevating well being issues for the 79-year-old president and underscoring that the virus stays a persistent risk in a rustic making an attempt to place the pandemic previously.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, stated in a press release that Mr. Biden was “fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms.”
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s doctor, stated in a letter released by the White House that Mr. Biden was experiencing fatigue, a runny nostril and an occasional dry cough.
“I anticipate that he will respond favorably, as most maximally protected patients do,” Dr. O’Connor wrote.
The president is receiving Paxlovid, an antiviral drug used to attenuate the severity of Covid-19, Ms. Jean-Pierre stated. He will isolate on the White House however “continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” she stated.
Mr. Biden posted a tweet in the afternoon saying he was “doing great” and “keeping busy!”
He had been scheduled to fly to Pennsylvania on Thursday for a speech about gun violence after which to journey to his residence in Wilmington, Del., for the weekend. White House officers stated each journeys had been canceled.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was final with the president on Tuesday, examined unfavorable, in accordance with the White House. Jill Biden, the primary girl, who has additionally acquired two boosters, examined unfavorable as nicely on Thursday morning, in accordance with Michael LaRosa, her spokesman.
The first girl, who was decided to be an in depth contact of the president, is protecting her journey schedule, which incorporates stops in Michigan and Georgia on Thursday, Mr. LaRosa stated. But she’s going to observe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention steerage with masking and social distancing; the C.D.C. defines a close contact as being inside six toes of somebody for no less than quarter-hour over a 24-hour interval.
The president’s analysis was a second his aides had spent years bracing for. As a candidate in 2020, Mr. Biden took extraordinary measures to keep away from turning into sick, holding “drive-in rallies” and avoiding the in-person occasions that had been hallmarks of life on the marketing campaign path.
As president, he remained severely remoted in his first months in workplace because the virus surged. The variety of workers members he interacted with was restricted. Members of the information media and others have been examined usually. Mr. Biden and his workers wore masks always.
More lately, nonetheless, because the variety of vaccinated folks elevated and lots of Americans have shrugged off pandemic issues, the president largely resumed common exercise. Last week, he returned from Israel and Saudi Arabia, the place he shook arms and embraced many world leaders.
At residence, Mr. Biden not often wears a masks and has hosted crowded occasions on the White House, even because the nation grapples with a flurry of circumstances from new subvariants which might be extremely contagious and might extra simply evade vaccine protections.
His advisers say he has adhered to steerage from the C.D.C. and the District of Columbia.
In her assertion, Ms. Jean-Pierre stated officers would inform any members of Congress, journalists or others thought of to have been shut contacts with the president throughout a visit to Massachusetts on Wednesday.
“Consistent with White House protocol for positive Covid cases, which goes above and beyond C.D.C. guidance, he will continue to work in isolation until he tests negative,” she stated within the assertion. “Once he tests negative, he will return to in-person work.”
Mr. Biden is usually examined. His final take a look at was on Tuesday, when he had a unfavorable end result, officers stated on Thursday.
It was unclear precisely how he acquired contaminated, and White House officers declined to supply detailed details about who he was in touch with in latest days. It is tough to find out precisely how or when somebody contracted the virus.
Mr. Biden had a collection of shut calls earlier than turning into contaminated. In March, he attended a gala occasion with Prime Minister Micheal Martin of Ireland, who left after testing optimistic.
Mr. Biden additionally attended the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in May, and quite a lot of attendees examined optimistic for the virus afterward, together with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
Mr. Biden and his prime aides have urged folks to get vaccinated and obtain boosters. The vaccine may be very efficient at protecting folks from turning into significantly ailing or dying, even when breakthrough infections happen.
The president and Democratic lawmakers have pleaded with Republicans in Congress to move emergency coronavirus funds to make sure that the United States should purchase new vaccines and therapeutics.
Mr. Biden is the second president to be contaminated with the coronavirus. In October 2020, President Donald J. Trump examined optimistic and was taken by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the place he was given steroids and different remedies.
Mr. Trump and his aides downplayed his signs on the time, however reporting later revealed that he was very sick.
Noah Weiland and Katie Rogers contributed reporting.
