COVID- President Joe Biden met with his senior economic team via videoconference on Friday while suffering from 19 symptoms, including a raspy voice and cough. However, the president made an effort to sound confident, saying, "I feel lot better than I sound."
White House representatives informed reporters that Biden was putting in more than eight hours a day later on Friday. He signed laws into law and participated in his daily intelligence briefings, albeit over the phone, demonstrating that his appetite hadn't reduced by displaying an empty plate with some crumbs when chatting with his aides.
According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, "He's continuing carrying out the duties of the President." That's not the end.
All of it was a part of the administration's painstakingly staged attempt to portray the president as someone who had kept his day job after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and being placed in seclusion at the White House residence.
Biden removed his mask and sipped water before speaking about the recent drop in petrol prices as he beamed into the virtual gathering from the Treaty Room. When asked how he was feeling after reporters were given a brief opportunity to watch the proceedings, Biden gave them the thumbs up despite sounding noticeably hoarse and coughing several times.
The White House made an effort to project the image of a president still in office despite his illness, but the president's doctors reported that his mild COVID symptoms were improving and he was responding well to therapy. Through a secure phone call, Biden received his daily security briefing from the president. Separately, Chinese President Xi Jinping wished Biden a "speedy recovery."
According to a recent note from Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the president's personal physician, Biden had a high temperature of 99.4 F on Thursday, but that went down with Tylenol. Biden has occasionally used an inhaler but hasn't felt short of breath.
Biden's main symptoms were a runny nose, exhaustion, and a loose cough as the president finished his first full day of Paxlovid, an antiviral therapeutic medication aimed to lessen the severity of COVID. Although the White House omitted particular numbers and made no commitment to do so, O'Connor claimed that other measures including pulse, blood pressure, respiration rate, and oxygen saturation were normal.
White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha informed reporters that the president "right now feels good enough to continue working" and that "he has continued to work at a rapid pace."
Jha stated that after five days of seclusion in the White House residence, Biden will undergo fresh testing. Once his test is negative, he intends to resume his in-person employment. The number of aides around Biden has been cut to a "very, very small footprint" as he works alone, according to Jean-Pierre. This includes the videographer and photographer who took the pictures of Biden in the house.
After more than two years of successfully avoiding the virus, Biden tested positive on Thursday, and the White House immediately worked to allay any concerns and transform his diagnosis into what Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain said he hoped would be a "teachable moment."
A picture of Biden, masked and tieless, speaking on the phone with his national security advisers in the Treaty Room of the White House was released by the White House on Friday. He took part in a separate conversation with senior White House officials about legislative goals after the economic team meeting. Jha said that, as opposed to the alternative, his hoarse voice might be a sign that he is progressing.
Jean-Pierre added that 17 persons, including members of Biden's top staff and at least one member of Congress, were found to have been in close contact with the vice president while he may have been contagious. She reported that so yet, none had tested positive.
Jill Biden, the first lady, was one of Biden's close friends. She tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday morning in Wilmington, Delaware, according to her spokesman Michael LaRosa, and hasn't displayed any symptoms. LaRosa claimed that while the president is still in seclusion, she had spoken to him "several times."
Vice President Kamala Harris was seen hugging attendees at a National Urban League luncheon on Friday, despite the fact that she was seated more than six feet away from them at the time. She removed her disguise throughout the luncheon but had it on as she entered the stage.
By portraying Biden as the personification of the idea that most Americans can contract COVID and recover without too much suffering and disruption if they have received their vaccinations and taken other crucial precautions, the administration is attempting to change the narrative from one of a health scare.
Jha reaffirmed Biden's advice that Americans get vaccinated and given booster shots, saying, "This virus is going to be with us forever."
The whole message was designed to allay voters' worries about Biden's health, who is the oldest president in history at 79.
Jha said on Friday that it would probably take until the next week for sequencing to reveal which virus variety Biden contracted. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was released on Tuesday, the extremely contagious BA.5 substrain of Omicron was the cause of 78 percent of the new COVID-19 infections reported in the U.S. last week.
Jean-Pierre has often reacted angrily to claims that the Biden administration wasn't any more forthright than Donald Trump's was with information concerning the president's sickness. Before immunizations were available, the former president caught COVID-19 in the fall of 2020 and spent three nights in the hospital at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Nevertheless, despite numerous requests, the White House has refused to make O'Connor immediately accessible to journalists.
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