President Joe Biden’s symptoms from Covid-19 improved overnight after his first full day on the Pfizer Inc. drug Paxlovid, his doctor said.
“The president is fully vaccinated and twice-boosted, so I anticipate that he will respond favorably, as most maximally protected patients do,” White House physician Kevin O’Connor wrote in a memo posted online.
“There has been nothing in the course of his illness thus far which gives me cause to alter that initial expectation,” he wrote.
Biden had an elevated temperature Wednesday night, of 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit, that “responded favorably” after he took acetaminophen, O’Connor added.
Biden, 79, tested positive for coronavirus Thursday, reporting mild symptoms including a runny nose, dry cough, and fatigue. The president is taking Pfizer’s treatment for the disease and isolating in the White House residence.
O’Connor said that Biden’s treating his symptoms by drinking water and using an albuterol inhaler “as needed,” in addition to acetaminophen. The letter didn’t indicate whether or how often Biden has used the inhaler, which is commonly directed for respiratory ailments like asthma, bronchitis and emphysema in addition to Covid.
O’Connor said Biden would also take a low dose of aspirin to replace a prescription-strength blood thinner that’s been discontinued while he’s treated with Paxlovid.
Despite his illness, the president is maintaining a schedule of virtual meetings. On Friday, the White House said he would receive his daily security briefing and then meet with his economic team on efforts to lower gas prices for Americans and with senior advisers to discuss legislative priorities.
Biden recently returned from a trip to the Middle East where he met with regional leaders — including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman — to discuss oil production.
During the trip, the president regularly embraced and greeted foreign leaders and dignitaries without wearing a mask, despite the White House saying his doctors had recommended enhanced safety protocols out of concern about the more-transmissible BA.5 variant of the virus that’s now spreading widely.
White House doctors have said that despite his age, Biden is at low risk for serious illness. He is relatively fit and fully vaccinated against Covid-19, including two booster shots. On Thursday, the president posted a video from a balcony at the White House where he said his “symptoms are mild.”
“I really appreciate the concerns, but I’m doing well, getting a lot of work done,” Biden said.
So far, there have been just under 568 million reported cases of coronavirus globally, resulting in nearly 6.4 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The White House has not yet identified any cases stemming from the president’s infection, chief of staff Ron Klain told MSNBC on Thursday.
The White House Medical Unit is formally informing people considered close contacts of the president of his infection. They include Klain, first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris’s office and the first lady’s office said the two women tested negative on Thursday.
Several lawmakers including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey traveled with Biden to Massachusetts on Wednesday before the White House says he began experiencing symptoms of the disease.