President Biden had a temperature of 99.4 degrees Thursday evening after testing positive for the coronavirus earlier in the day, according to the White House physician, who said Friday that the president’s symptoms had improved after his first full day of taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid. .
The doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, wrote in a letter released Friday that Mr. Biden was still experiencing a runny nose and fatigue, and that he had an “occasional, nonproductive, now ‘loose’ cough.” Dr. O’Connor added that Mr. Biden’s temperature had “responded favorably” to Tylenol.
“His voice is deeper this morning,” wrote Dr. O’Connor. “His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation remain completely normal on room air.”
The deeper tone of Mr. Biden’s voice was noted on Friday, when the president participated in a briefing on falling gas prices with his economic advisers. In his first live public comments since testing positive, Mr. Biden cleared his throat several times during his remarks and could be heard coughing as other officials spoke. Mr. Biden gave a thumbs up when reporters asked him how he was feeling.
“It’s great to see the president doing better,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the administration’s co-ordinator of the Covid response, said at a White House briefing on Friday afternoon. “He’s better because he’s vaccinated, he’s strengthened, he’s getting treatment.” (Watch the White House briefing live.)
During the briefing, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the White House medical unit had identified 17 people who were in close contact with Mr. Biden, including members of his senior staff. None of the staff members had tested positive as of Friday.
Mr. Jha said Thursday’s temperature of 99.4 degrees was the highest Biden had experienced in the past 24 hours.
Earlier on Friday, Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said Mr. Biden’s temperature of 99.4 was not considered a low-grade fever by the White House because it was “within the normal range.” He referred to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that says a person is considered to have a fever “when they have a measured temperature of 100.4 degrees” or feel warm to the touch.
But in his letter, Dr. O’Connor indicated that he did not feel the president’s temperature of 99.4 was normal until he responded to Tylenol.
“He ran a temperature last evening to 99.4°F, which responded favorably to acetaminophen (Tylenol),” wrote Dr. O’Connor. “His temperature has remained normal since then.”
Mr. Bates said that Dr. O’Connor did not prescribe the Tylenol for the temperature, but for Mr. Biden. But Mr Bates declined to say what discomfort the president was experiencing. Officials have said he does not have a sore throat and have not indicated that he is in any other pain.
The president will continue to take his course of Paxlovid, added Dr. O’Connor, as well as Tylenol. He will use his albuterol inhaler “as needed.”
While taking Paxlovid, Mr. Biden will not take two common medications: an anticoagulant and a cholesterol-lowering pill, Dr. O’Connor wrote, adding that “it is reasonable to add low-dose aspirin as an alternative blood type . thinner.”
Dr. Jha said at a White House briefing on Thursday that pausing the two drugs while Mr. Biden was on antiviral treatment was “a very standard and routine thing that we do when we give people Paxlovid.”
The letter came after Dr Jha said on Friday morning that Mr Biden had been feeling “fine” late Thursday night, with a dry cough and a runny nose as his only symptoms.
“His words were, ‘I’m fine,'” Dr. Jha said. “No change in symptoms. Again, the dry cough type, the runny nose, those are his two main things that he felt yesterday.”
In the past, the White House has taken extraordinary measures to protect the president, although in recent months, Biden has resumed a more normal presidential schedule.
Dr Jha said the president was being closely monitored for any signs that his symptoms might worsen, including the possibility of any effect on his lungs, which can be one of the most dangerous complications of a coronavirus infection because Covid is primarily a respiratory disease.
So far, Dr. Jha said, there were no signs.
“His personal physician is also consulting with infectious disease experts across the country, all part of the plan for what we always planned to do if the president were to become infected,” Dr Jha said. “And so he has very regular check-ins and of course he’s meeting with people all day, on the phone and on Zoom, and so he’s got a lot of eyes on him.”
Dr Jha also played down the risks that the president could develop so-called “long Covid”, where symptoms persist for weeks, months or longer. He used a question about this possibility to promote the importance of vaccination.
“If you think about, you know, the proportion of people who end up having significant long-term symptoms, it’s very small and it’s substantially reduced if you’ve been vaccinated and boosted, which this president has,” he said.