Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a letter that Biden had a temperature of 99.4 degrees Thursday evening, which was treated with Tylenol.
“His temperature has remained normal since then,” O’Connor wrote.
He is also being treated with an albuterol inhaler “that he uses as needed,” O’Connor added, as well as “oral hydration.”
Biden’s symptoms continue to be a runny nose and fatigue. The president had a dry cough earlier Thursday, but now has “an occasional non-productive cough, now ‘loose’,” according to O’Connor.
The president is still taking Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid. O’Connor confirmed that Biden has stopped using the previously prescribed drugs Crestor and Eliquis “during Paxlovid treatment and for several days after his last dose.” In order to avoid a drug interaction, certain medications such as Crestor and Eliquis are avoided during Paxlovid treatments.
O’Connor reiterated in his Friday letter that he anticipates “that (Biden) will respond favorably” to the treatment. Biden will continue to be isolated and monitored “closely” by the White House medical unit.
White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha also told John Berman on CNN’s “New Day” earlier Friday that Biden’s symptoms remained mild as of Thursday night, suggesting that the president’s symptoms were “basically the same.”
“I got an update yesterday at 10pm and it was fine,” he said. Jha added that he would touch base with the White House medical team and speak to the president “directly this morning.”
“The symptoms were basically the same: again, he’s got a bit of a runny nose, he’s got a bit of a dry cough,” Jha said.
Asked again if any of Biden’s symptoms were getting worse, Jha told CNN: “No. As of 10 p.m. last night, no. It was the same symptoms, about the same level of mildness.” .
Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday morning, becoming the second US president to contract the virus during the two-and-a-half-year pandemic. In a video posted on Twitter after he tested positive, Biden told Americans he was “fine” and was continuing to work while in isolation at the White House.
On Thursday night, he called Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, who also tested positive for Covid-19, the White House said. And he spoke to hosts of events he had scheduled to attend in Wilkes-Barre and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Footage posted on Twitter also showed Biden signing the Formula Act, which suspends tariffs on certain formula products amid current shortages, on Thursday and holding a call with his national security team on Friday morning.
Biden is fully vaccinated and boosted twice, and has been prescribed Paxlovid because his advanced age puts him at high risk for serious illness. Biden is 79 years old.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Jha are expected to speak to reporters Friday afternoon.
Jha said they still “don’t know much” about where the president contracted the virus, but said that any close contacts of the president are being tracked. He said he was not aware of any subsequent cases. First lady Jill Biden, who is considered a close contact but has tested negative, will stay in Delaware over the weekend and “follow (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines,” he said.
Jha on CNN Friday also played down concerns that the White House press corps has not yet been directly briefed by O’Connor, after a reporter at Thursday’s briefing said the White House is playing the phone game.
“Dr. O’Connor is your personal physician. You heard from Dr. O’Connor in the letter. We are fully committed to transparency here. Every day you will hear from Dr. O’Connor through written communication. He was going to make his own statement with that assessment of how the president is doing,” he said.
He said many officials are in contact with Biden and “the American people will have a very complete picture of how the president is doing.”
Pressed again by Berman about whether there were plans to make O’Connor available to the press or the public, Jha said O’Connor “will share his information” and that a “variety of administration officials” would share information
White House officials have been preparing for months for what many saw as the inevitability of Biden coming down with Covid.
A wave of cases has swept Washington over the spring and summer, and as more and more of its top officials and their family members contracted Covid, officials came to believe it was possible that the president himself had become ill. , even when they took steps to protect themselves. he of the virus.
White House officials had a loose plan for the day Biden tested positive, including informing the public when the tests were confirmed and releasing a letter from Biden’s doctor daily about the president’s condition.