NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, the White House said.
“He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement announcing the president's positive test.
Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday, a White House official said. She was last with Biden on Tuesday.
Biden, 79, has begun taking the oral antiviral pill Paxlovid, she said. When administered within five days of symptoms appearing, Paxlovid has been proven to bring about a 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths.
“Consistent with CDC guidelines, he will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” Jean-Pierre said. “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 will continue to work in isolation until he tests negative, Jean-Pierre said, adding that the White House will provide a daily update on his condition. He last tested negative for the virus on Tuesday. He had been scheduled to go to Delaware and Pennsylvania on Thursday.
All close contacts of Biden will be notified Thursday, including any lawmakers and members of the press who interacted with him recently, Jean-Pierre said. The president was in Somerset, Massachusetts, on Wednesday for a climate-related event where he met with lawmakers and local officials.
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The White House press office sent out a letter from White House physician Kevin O'Connor showing Biden’s main symptoms are a runny nose, fatigue and a dry cough that started Wednesday evening.
Biden received two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose March 30.
When Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald Trump, contracted the virus in October 2020, it was a far different time. Vaccines were not available and treatment options were limited and less advanced.
Biden tested positive as highly contagious variants challenge the nation's efforts to resume normalcy after two and a half years of pandemic disruptions.
The highly transmissible omicron variant is the dominant strain in the U.S., but scientists say it poses a lower risk for severe illness to those who are up to date on their vaccinations. The BA.5 sub-strain, believed to be even more contagious, now makes up more than 65% of U.S. cases.
After more than a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing an average of 353 people a day across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the unvaccinated at far greater risk of serious illness.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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