Biden’s symptoms “continue to improve” after testing positive for covid-19

() — President Joe Biden’s symptoms “continue to improve” after he was diagnosed with covid-19 on Thursday, the president’s doctor said in a letter on Saturday.

“His main symptoms, although less bothersome, now include sore throat, runny nose, loose cough, and body aches,” Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote. “His voice is still deep. His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature remain completely normal. His oxygen saturation remains excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear”.

Biden completed his second full day of Paxlovid and will continue to receive the antiviral drug, O’Connor said.

O’Connor wrote that Biden’s “causal agent” is “most likely” the BA.5 variant of covid-19, which he notes “is responsible for 75-80% of infections in the United States right now.”

Biden “will continue to self-isolate in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations,” O’Connor said, and will continue to be treated with oral hydration, Tylenol and low-dose aspirin as an alternate type of blood thinner. .

O’Connor said Biden, who had asthma when he was younger, will also continue to be treated with his albuterol inhaler “as needed,” which he has used multiple times since testing positive.

“We have reason to believe that (Biden) will do very well,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Amara on Saturday morning. Walker of .

While he hasn’t spoken directly with the president, Fauci said he has been in “very close contact” with O’Connor following Biden’s positive test result this week.

Fauci said Biden “doesn’t have any trouble breathing right now” and that using an inhaler is what Biden “does on a regular basis, when he has an upper respiratory infection.”