(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s “symptoms have improved” one day after testing positive for COVID-19, the physician to the president, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said in a statement Friday.
Biden had a temperature of 99.4 degrees Thursday evening, his doctor said. The president took acetaminophen and his temperature has been normal since then, O’Connor said.
Biden, 79, still has a runny nose, fatigue and occasional cough, O’Connor said.
The president’s pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen levels remain normal, O’Connor said.
First lady Jill Biden, who is in Wilmington, Delaware, tested negative for COVID-19 Friday morning and remains symptom-free, according to her press secretary, Michael La Rosa. Jill Biden plans to remain in Wilmington until at least Tuesday, her office said.
Biden tested positive Thursday morning as part of routine testing, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Thursday.
The president felt “totally normal” during the day Wednesday, Jha said, and symptoms then started Wednesday evening, according to O’Connor.
President Biden continued working from the White House this morning, including speaking by phone with his national security team. pic.twitter.com/jdQkoDtupR
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 22, 2022
The president, who is fully vaccinated and received two boosters, is taking the antiviral pill Paxlovid, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Paxlovid has “been shown in clinical trials to be 89% effective in reducing the risk of severe COVID-19 illness, meaning hospitalization or death,” ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said.
O’Connor said in a statement Friday that because Biden is vaccinated and double boosted he was not concerned for the president’s health.
“I anticipated that he will respond favorably, as most maximally protected patients do,” O’Connor said. “There has been nothing in the course of his illness thus far which gives me cause to alter that initial expectation.”
An update from me: pic.twitter.com/L2oCR0uUTu
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 21, 2022
The president will work in isolation until he tests negative, Jean-Pierre said.
Biden was last tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, when he tested negative, according to Jean-Pierre.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
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