Preliminary testing showed President Joe Biden likely caught the contagious BA.5 COVID strain that’s dominating cases across the country, his physician said in a White House memo Saturday. Presidential physician Kevin O’Connor said Biden is still experiencing mild symptoms but they are “less troublesome” and that he is responding well to the Paxlovid pill treatment. Biden’s symptoms now include a runny nose, sore throat, cough and body aches; of those, his doctor had not previously mentioned body aches or sore throat in his memos, the Associated Press reports. After the 79-year-old president tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, he’s been isolating in his residence in the White House. In a Friday update, Biden said he’s “doing great” in a tweet, and that he “feel[s] much better than [he] sounds” in a virtual meeting with economic advisers. O’Connor said knowing the variant doesn’t change Biden’s treatment plan, with officials repeatedly insisting Biden is doing so well because of his quadruple vaccination status and his treatment.
