Joe Biden Tests Positive for COVID-19: ‘Very Mild Symptoms’
President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House announced Thursday morning.
This is his first time testing positive for the virus.
Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots for the virus. He is “experiencing very mild symptoms,” the White House said.
He has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral medication used to help treat cases of the coronavirus.
“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,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Former President Donald Trump also tested positive for the virus while in office, and ultimately stayed at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre to be treated for a COVID infection.
Breakthrough cases of COVID-19 — infections that occur in people who have been fully vaccinated against the virus — are possible and expected, as the vaccines are not 100 percent effective. Still, vaccinated people who test positive will likely be asymptomatic or experience a far milder illness than if they were not vaccinated. The majority of deaths from COVID-19 — around 98 to 99 percent — are in unvaccinated people.
Source: People
