WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – President Biden is spending Friday morning isolated inside the White House.
The president, who is fully vaccinated and doubled boosted, earlier shared a video just hours after the White House revealed his diagnosis, saying his symptoms are mild.
“But I’m doing well, getting a lot of work done,” he said. “Thanks for your concern and keep the faith. It’s going to be okay.”
The president’s physician, Dr. Ashish Jha, said that Biden began experiencing a runny nose, fatigue and an occasional dry cough, Wednesday evening and that he’s now being treated with the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
Jha said, “Given how much immunity he has from vaccines, given that he was started on treatments right away like, I think his all of those things very dramatically reduce his risk of serious illness.”
The vice president and first lady were both identified as close contacts, each of them testing negative Thursday.
Biden said, “I am going to keep my schedule. I am, according to CDC guidelines, I am keeping masked.”
The president’s infection comes less than a week after his return from the Middle East, in the days since attending church, meeting Ukraine’s first lady, and traveling to and from an event in the northeast.
Still, the White House said it doesn’t know when the president was exposed to the virus.
The COVID crisis has changed dramatically since 2020 when former President Trump had to be rushed to Walter Reed Hospital following his bout with the disease just a month before the election.
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