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President Biden's COVID-19 Symptoms Almost Resolved, Doctor Says

The President completed his fourth full day of Paxlovid last night and is feeling mostly back to normal.

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2 min read
President Joe Biden at a microphone, pointing with his right hand

The president reported mild symptoms. 

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For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites.

President Joe Biden's COVID-19 symptoms "almost completely resolved," his doctor wrote in a memo released on Monday. His only remaining symptoms include "some residual nasal congestion" and "minimal hoarseness."

Biden, who's fully vaccinated and double boosted, contracted the virus on July 21 and experienced mild symptoms including a runny nose, fatigue and an occasional cough. He started taking antiviral pill Paxlovid to reduce the severity of those symptoms, and finished his fourth dose on Sunday night. 

While Biden did have a temperature of 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit, it dropped after he was given a dose of Tylenol and has remained normal since, according to a previous letter written by White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor. He expects the president will continue to respond well to treatment, as most fully vaccinated and boosted people do.

"There has been nothing in the course of his illness thus far which gives me cause to alter that initial expectation," O'Connor wrote in the letter, adding that the president's early use of Paxlovid provides additional protections against severe illness. 

Biden will return to work in person once he tests negative and in the meantime is working via Zoom. In a tweet Thursday, the president said he was "doing great." 

"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. Keeping busy!"

In a video posted to the POTUS Twitter account Thursday afternoon, Biden reiterated he's been double vaccinated, double boosted and that his symptoms are mild. "I'm doing well, getting a lot of work done," Biden added. The video looks to have been filmed with Biden standing on a balcony at the White House. 

The news comes amid another wave of COVID-19, with average daily cases across the country increasing to levels not seen since December 2021, when the omicron variant was beginning to spike, according to The New York Times COVID-19 tracking map. COVID cases in the US for the last 28 days have totaled more than 3.3 million, with about 10,600 deaths, according to John Hopkins University COVID-19 data.

The dominant variant, accounting for nearly 78% of cases in the US, is BA.5, a subvariant of omicron. BA.5 is more contagious, but it's unclear whether it's more severe. 

See also