“My friends, I am very well”: the American president, Joe Biden, gave his news on Thursday on Twitter, after having tested positive for COVID-19 at the age of 79.
” Still busy ! “, added the head of state, whose symptoms are” very light “according to the White House, in this message accompanied by a photo very clearly intended to show that he remains in charge.
We see Joe Biden smiling, in a suit and shirt, no tie, at an office in the White House. Pen in hand, he has his phones, papers and a bottle of water in front of him.
In a statement, his doctor Kevin O’Connor said the president first had a positive result on Thursday after an antigen test, which was later confirmed by a PCR test.
The doctor provides this list of symptoms, which appeared on Wednesday evening: a “runny nose”, “fatigue” and “an occasional dry cough”.
“All of its functions”
The Democrat, who had never tested positive, ‘started taking Paxlovid’, Pfizer’s anti-COVID pill, and will self-isolate at the White House until he tests negative again , said his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
Joe Biden “is fully vaccinated and has received two booster doses, so I expect him to respond favorably” to this treatment, his doctor said.
The president “will continue to assume his full duties” during his isolation, from his private apartments, the White House insisted.
His wife Jill Biden said she had tested negative. “I spoke to him a few minutes ago. He’s fine, he feels good,” she told reporters during a trip to Michigan.
The president, who wants to campaign before legislative elections in November, has however had to cancel his next trips. He was supposed to go to Pennsylvania on Thursday and to Florida next Monday.
” Robust “
Joe Biden, elected in part on the promise to deal with the deadly epidemic of COVID-19, has always highlighted his respect for the instructions for distancing and wearing a mask.
He also summoned the press to receive his vaccine doses, hoping to encourage his fellow citizens to imitate him.
So far, he had never contracted the virus, which has circulated widely in his entourage and generally in the American political world. Vice President Kamala Harris, who had COVID-19 in April, tested negative Thursday, according to her office.
“For the sake of great transparency”, the White House has promised to communicate “every day” on the state of health of Joe Biden, whom a medical examination last November had found “robust” and “fit” to exercise his functions.
The last negative test of the American head of state, who last week toured Israel and Saudi Arabia, dates back to Tuesday, said Karine Jean-Pierre.
The United States is currently seeing about 130,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day, an otherwise underestimated figure according to experts, and the number of hospitalizations is also on the rise. The highly contagious BA.5 subvariant of Omicron is dominant in the country, where it accounts for about 80% of cases.
Paxlovid
Paxlovid, which Joe Biden takes, is an antiviral treatment that works by decreasing the ability of the virus to replicate, thus slowing the progression of the disease.
It must be taken within the first few days after symptoms appear to be effective.
This treatment is recommended in the United States for people at risk of developing a severe case of the disease, a category in which the American president falls due to his age.
Joe Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, announced on October 2, 2020 on Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
He had been evacuated by helicopter to the Walter Reed military hospital, and had been treated there for three nights, without the White House shed any light on the seriousness of his condition.
The Republican opposition on Thursday muted its still very virulent criticism of Joe Biden, and many of its tenors expressed their prayers or wishes for a good recovery.
“I am sorry to hear that President Biden has tested positive for COVID-19. I wish him a speedy recovery, ”tweeted the leader of the Republican senators, Mitch McConnell.