President Joe Biden, who is fully vaccinated and double boosted against COVID-19, tested positive for COVID Thursday morning, a day after he flew on Air Force One with other government officials.
The president is experiencing mild symptoms, including a runny nose, occasional dry cough and fatigue, which White House officials are attributing to his quadruple-vaxxed status.
The day prior to the announcement, Biden along with approximately 12 other individuals, flew from the White House to Massachusetts. Included on the flight were top Biden administration officials as well as Massachusetts Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Reps. Jake Auchincloss and Bill Keating.
The full list was posted by Jacqui Heinrich, White House correspondent, who said in a tweet, “Among those who flew with POTUS on AF1 yesterday: Sen Elizabeth Warren (73) and Sen Ed Markey (76).”
“The good thing is that the president, again, has been vaccinated and double boosted,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who also said that it “didn’t matter” where the president got infected.
When Reporters asked Dr. Ashish Jha, White House coronavirus response coordinator, where Biden may have caught the virus, Jha told reporters he didn’t know. Jean-Pierre then interjected to say it’s not important.
“Look, I don’t think that that matters, right? I think what matters is we prepared for this moment,” she said, to the shock of reporters.
“You said it doesn’t matter where he got it. But how can it not matter where he got it?” asked CNN’s Jeff Zeleny. “That is something that, of course, is involved in contact tracing, this administration has taken it very seriously — how could it not matter?”
“I think what I was trying to say is, what’s important now is that he has mild symptoms, is that he is working from the [White House] residence on behalf of the American people. That’s our focus,” Jean-Pierre said before adding: “Look, we knew this was going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Biden took to Twitter to announce that he was “doing great.”
“Folks, I’m doing great,” Biden declared. “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.”
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