The incumbent president of the United States of America Mr Joe Biden, the oldest person ever to serve as president of the United States has tested positive for the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19) with manifestations of mild syndrome.
Even with the mild symptoms, it is reported that the president would continue working but in isolation, according to the White House in a statement yesterday. However, Biden yesterday Twitted that he is “doing great” despite testing positive for COVID-19.
With this development, President Biden has joined a fairly long roster of other world leaders who have contracted COVID-19 disease since the pandemic started in early 2020. They include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Albert II, the prince of Monaco. Luckily for humanity, all of these world leaders have recovered.
He said, “Folks, I’m doing great. Thanks for your concern. Just called Senator Casey, Congressman Cartwright, and Mayor Cognetti (and my Scranton cousins!) to send my regrets for missing our event today,” Biden tweeted on his official @POTUS account on Twitter.
Biden, 79, has a runny nose, fatigue, and an occasional dry cough, which he began to experience late Wednesday, White House physician Kevin O’Connor said in a note made public. Biden has begun taking the antiviral treatment Paxlovid, O’Connor said.
“He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms,” Reuters quoted Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, to have said in a statement. 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,” she added, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The White House would provide a daily update on the president’s health, Jean-Pierre said. Biden’s administration is facing major challenges including soaring inflation and Russia’s land assault on Ukraine. His popularity has dropped sharply over the past year. A Reuters/Ipsos survey completed on Tuesday showed 36 per cent of Americans approve of his job performance.
Multiple members of Biden’s administration and other senior figures in Washington had tested positive for the coronavirus in recent months, including Vice President Kamala Harris in April, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Attorney General Merrick Garland. All have since tested negative and resumed working.
U. S. stocks briefly headed lower following reports of the president’s diagnosis, with the S&P 500 (.SPX) dropping about 0.5 per cent over the following 10 minutes. The index quickly retraced that loss and by mid-morning was back to near the unchanged mark on the day. While many Americans have moved on from the strict precautions of the pandemic’s early months, returning to offices and schools and resuming summer travel, the virus continues to spread.
Cases in the United States are up more than 25 per cent in the last month, according to CDC data, as the rapidly spreading BA.5 sub-variant has taken hold. Evading the immune protection afforded either by vaccination or prior infection, BA.5 has been the dominant sub-variant in the United States since at least early July and has driven a surge of new infections globally.
Biden is tested regularly for the disease and anyone who meets with him or travels with him is tested beforehand, the White House had said. Biden had last tested negative on Tuesday. If given within the first five days of infection, the Pfizer Inc. antiviral drug Paxlovid that Biden is taking has been shown to reduce the risk of severe disease by nearly 90 per cent in high-risk patients.
But Paxlovid has in some cases been associated with rebound infections, in which patients improve quickly and test negative after a five-day course of the drug, but then days later symptoms return. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci experienced a rebound infection four days after ending his first course of Paxlovid, and was given a second round of the drug, Fauci said in an interview this week.
Biden’s White House predecessor, Donald Trump, contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalised for three nights in October 2020. Biden is fully vaccinated and got his second booster shot in March. The risk of an unvaccinated person aged 65 and older being hospitalised after contracting COVID-19 is 10 times that of someone who has been vaccinated.
Unlike Trump, Biden consistently wore a mask when in public when case counts were high and before being vaccinated. He also set up strict COVID-19 safety protocols at the White House, urged Americans to take the virus seriously and campaigned for everyone to get fully vaccinated. Biden has, however, stopped wearing a mask at public events in recent months, and the White House dropped its mask requirement ahead of his March 1 State of the Union Address.
