President Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House announced on Thursday.
He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “experiencing very mild symptoms.” She said he has begun taking Paxlovid, a standard course of treatment for people who are considered to be at higher risk of adverse affects of COVID, including anyone over 50.
Biden “will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “He has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence.”
Biden’s last previous test for COVID was Tuesday, when he had a negative test result, the statement said.
While vaccines, booster shots and antivirals reduce the chances for severe illness or hospitalization from COVID-19, the virus presents an increased risk to older people. At 79, Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history. He is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots, receiving a fourth dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine a day after it was authorized in March for people over 50.
“Per standard protocol for any positive case at the White House, the White House Medical Unit will inform all close contacts of the President during the day today, including any Members of Congress and any members of the press who interacted with the President during yesterday’s travel” to Somerset, Mass., the statement said.
Other than the Massachusetts event, Biden had mostly stayed out of view from cameras since returning from a five-day trip to the Middle East.
If Biden’s condition were to seriously deteriorate, he would have the option of temporarily transferring presidential power to Vice President Harris through the Constitution’s 25th Amendment. Harris served as acting president for a bit more than an hour in November, when Biden underwent anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy during a physical. President George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan also invoked the 25th Amendment for short windows during colonoscopies.
Biden’s diagnosis comes amid yet another COVID wave in the United States, driven this time by the BA.5 variant.
For his first year in office, a cautious approach to COVID had been a defining feature of the Biden administration. Biden avoided large indoor gatherings, the White House imposed mask mandates, and staffers would regularly hold Zoom meetings from behind closed doors in their offices, rather than congregate for in-person meetings.
Many of those precautions faded over the course of 2022. The administration packed the East Room for ceremonial events, and even resumed public tours.
Behind closed doors, however, the administration continued to implement stricter COVID protocols around the president. Staffers are tested before meetings with Biden, and they still mask and stay six feet away from him during meetings, according to Jean-Pierre.
Still, in the week leading up to Biden’s positive test, he had lingered for extended conversations, posed for pictures and gave hugs at the Congressional Picnic on the White House South Lawn; Biden shook hands — and, controversially, exchanged fist bumps — with leaders in Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia.
Biden did not wear a mask in many of the meetings and other events on the four-day…
Read More: Biden Tests Positive For COVID And Shows Mild Symptoms, White House Says