Washington — White House reassures Americans on Thursday that President Biden is suffering from a mild bout of COVID-19 and that the governing business will continue as usual while he receives the required five days of quarantine. Moved to make you.
“I was going to say I was going to rest comfortably,” said Dr. Ashish Jar, coordinator of the White House’s pandemic response team, in an afternoon briefing on the president’s activities that morning. “He isn’t really resting comfortably. He works comfortably at his home.”
He added that Biden was so enthusiastic about continuing his day-to-day work that he neglected to eat. “I advised him to finish breakfast,” said Jha, reflecting his optimism about the health of the 79-year-old president.
Biden planned to travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to discuss public safety. The trip has been cancelled. The president’s Weekend Plans-he was supposed to travel to his beloved beach house-were also apparently cancelled.
White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden began to feel tired Wednesday night after returning to Washington from a trip to Massachusetts to make statements about climate change. A letter from the president’s doctor when news of his infection was announced Thursday morning stated that he was experiencing a runny nose, malaise, and a dry cough spell.
The president has been vaccinated and has received two boosters, so he is expected to recover completely and relatively quickly. As a result of vaccination and booster immunization, “the risk of his serious illness has been dramatically reduced,” Jha said.
Still, he started the Paxlovid regimen. This is a relatively new treatment that has become more and more available in recent months and is very effective in preventing serious illnesses and illnesses. While at Paxlovid, Biden stops taking the heart drug Eliquis and the high-cholesterol drug Crestor.
In recent weeks, cases of coronavirus have increased as a subvariant of Omicron, known as BA.5, has spread nationwide, masking has become a matter of personal choice, and other restrictions have been lifted. The government argues that both vaccines and treatments are widely available, allowing people to return to pre-pandemic activities such as travel, even if the risk of exposure increases as a result.
Biden is, in a sense, a proof of concept for that approach. “These are very important to the president,” Jha said of access to vaccines and treatments. “They are very important to all Americans.”
Even with a series of coronavirus waves throughout 2022, everything is increasingly infectious. Omicron subvariant — Biden is increasingly attending large-scale rallies, including the White House Correspondents’ Association Gala in May. He also returned from his trip to the Middle East late last week and began his regular trips.
Jha admitted that BA.5 was highly contagious, but could not say whether it was a variant contracted by the president. Sequencing the president’s virus strain can take several days.
Biden spent much of the 2020 presidential election in isolation at his home in Delaware. He avoided several encounters with the coronavirus throughout his presidency, but there was a sense that it was only a matter of time before he became infected with the pathogen within his White House.
“I knew this would happen,” Jean-Pierre said at a briefing on Thursday.
She said the president’s symptoms were similar to those of a common cold. “It’s not a fever,” she said, appearing indignant. “It’s not a big headache. It’s a runny nose and a dry throat — many people who don’t test positive for COVID have it.”
The White House was already defensive about the president’s age and reports of his aptitude to work in a highly demanding office, but moved swiftly on Thursday to show that he was doing his job. rice field.
“That would be okay,” Biden said in a video recorded at the White House residence. Share on the president’s Twitter account.. The video was shot outdoors. Jean-Pierre said the videographer was masked. I took an image of the president working at his desk.
President Donald Trump at the time was infected with COVID-19 in the fall of 2020. Top executives of his administration tried to hide the seriousness of his condition, even after being rushed to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment after his oxygen content, blood at dangerously low levels Soaked in.
Ja said Walter Reed was always ready to treat the president, but foresaw Biden had no reason to take care of him there. “His oxygen levels were checked this morning,” Jha said. “It was normal.”
Now the White House has to undertake the daunting task of reaching out to the president’s close contacts, including a few lawmakers he spoke to on Air Force One on Wednesday. But in most cases, Jean-Pierre sought to reassure the public that the West Wing would continue his normal activities, even if the president was isolated in his residence.
Neither she nor Ja could say where the first lady Jill Biden would stay while her husband was isolated.Perhaps accommodation can be found in one of the White Houses 132 rooms..