Now White House says Biden has ‘lingering symptoms’ – after his doctor said he had NONE: Karine Jean-Pierre says President is ‘experiencing some things’ – but is still working ‘8-plus hours a day’
- Biden has been stuck in the White House for 12 consecutive days
- He was treated with Paxlovid following his first positive test for infection
- First lady Jill Biden remains in the family home in Wilmington, Delaware, and has been testing negative
- Biden had planned to reunite with her Sunday before getting his ‘rebound’ case
- White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said Biden is still feeling well and is showing no symptoms
- White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre while avoiding specifics on President Joe Biden’s symptoms on Monday
- She said he was not experiencing any ‘recurring symptoms’
- Biden first tested positive on July 21, then tested negative on the 27th
- Biden tested positive again Saturday in a ‘rebound’ case
The White House on Monday said President Joe Biden continues to have mild ‘lingering symptoms’ but took pains not to spell out what they are following the president’s second round of covid, as he continues in his 12th day of isolation.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the comment after White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a letter Biden continues to ‘feel well’ after suffering a rebound case of the virus shortly after testing negative.
‘No reoccurring symptoms – meaning like, if you look at [O’Connor’s] original letter, there’s nothing. There’s nothing severe right? Because he feels fine. He feels he feels good.’
‘But as we know, all of us have had COVID, we do have a little bit of a lingering cough, a little bit of maybe a lingering sniffle. That’s not uncommon to happen, so that’s what we are talking about,’ she said, without specifying the exact nature of the president’s ailments.
‘Many of us have had COVID before and they tend to be lingering symptoms and that’s what I’m talking about,’ White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday, while reviewing few details about what symptoms the president is experiencing after his ‘rebound’ case of covid
He appears to be doing better than he was following his original diagnosis last month. During Biden’s first round, ‘we had talked about a little fatigue, we talked about aches, you know there was a little bit of discomfort. That has not occurred,’ she said.
Jean-Pierre continued to dance around the exact nature of what the president was going through, while rattling off minor symptoms.
‘And there are some, you know, you still have a dry cough, you still have you know a little sniffles that lasts for a little bit longer,’ she said.
‘Many of us have had COVID before and they tend to be lingering symptoms and that’s what I’m talking about,’ she said, speaking to a press corps that, like much of the country, has seen a series of covid cases during the pandemic.
Pressed on whether Biden was still experiencing some things, she said ‘of course’ he was – and then pointed to Biden’s chronic dry cough, which proceeded his positive tests for covid.
Her remarks drew repeated questions from the press about the precise nature of the president’s symptoms, what he was doing in isolation, and when he would resume travel.
Jean-Pierre acknowledged the president was experiencing ‘lingering symptoms’
She said Biden would continue to follow Centers for Disease Control guidelines, which call for five days of isolation following a positive covid test.
But she noted there are no official guidelines for travel for someone who has a ‘rebound’ case from a recent case of covid.
‘There there are no CDC recommendations regarding travel for rebound. So that does not exist for rebound cases,’ she said, as the president seeks to get back on the road.
She also brushed back questions about whether the president kept too busy a schedule despite battling covid, and defended the medical team’s decision to give the president Paxlovid, which has been linked to return cases in a minority of cases.
‘He tends to have a dry cough. That is not unusual,’ she said. Biden continues to work, but Jean-Pierre didn’t immediately provide details on his activities, while teasing an update later.
‘He has been working eight-plus hours a day That is a schedule that he continues to keep,’ she said.
A White House spokesman, asked what symptoms the president is currently suffering,’ appeared to confirm a runny nose and cough, pointing to Jean-Pierre’s statement that ‘there are some [symptoms], you know, you still have a dry cough. You still have, you know, a little sniffles that that lasts for a little bit longer.’
Jean-Pierre spoke after the president doctor confirmed that he was still testing positive for COVID as of Monday morning and will continue his strict isolation, even as the president ‘continues to feel well.’
Biden now hasn’t left the White House complex in 12 days after he suffered a rebound case on Saturday that is believed to have been sparked by his Paxlovid treatment regimen.
White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said Biden is still feeling well and is showing no symptoms.
The president has no public appearances on his schedule on Monday. In his stead, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters.
‘The President continues to feel well as he starts his week,’ O’Connor wrote. ‘Given his rebound positivity which we reported Saturday, we continued daily monitoring. This morning, as could be anticipated, his SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing remained positive.’
President Biden’s doctor confirmed that he was still testing positive for COVID as of Monday morning and will continue his strict isolation
O’Connor said Biden would continue to work from the White House. He also explained that the president’s positive test was ‘anticipated’ given similar patients in his position.
The President will continue his strict isolation measures as previously described.’
According to O’Connor, ‘He will continue to conduct the business of the American people from the Executive Residence.’ O’Connor wrote that Biden ‘continues to be very specifically conscientious to protect any of the Executive Residence, White House, Secret Service and other staff whose duties require nay (albeit socially distanced) proximity to him.’
That means Biden will continue to stay away from the West Wing, where aides conduct official business.
It all comes at crunch time in Washington, where Biden is in sight of grabbing some policy wins even as he eschews sitting down with lawmakers.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D), who spent months negotiating directly with Biden, announced last week he had reached a deal with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer on a package that raises $739 billion in revenue, with $433 billion in spending on climate and other measures, and about $300 billion in deficit reduction.
But Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), whose vote would be crucial for passage, has yet to give the ‘reconciliation’ proposal, which is protected from Republican filibuster, a green light.
And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on a tour of Asia, with aggressive statements out of Beijing over reports she plans to visit Taiwan.
The president had tested negative for COVID-19 four days in a row after being infected last month. But medical experts insist his rebound case, while rare, is not completely unusual.
He tested positive on Saturday, and went back into isolation. Officials said he had six close contacts before the positive hit.
Physicians have noted that some people in higher risk categories who are treated with Paxlovid, as Biden was, are prone to suffer ‘rebound’ infections.
First lady Jill Biden remains in the family home in Wilmington, Delaware, and has been testing negative.
Biden had planned to reunite with her Sunday before getting his ‘rebound’ case.
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