Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House has been preparing for President Joe Biden 's eventual COV...
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House has been preparing for President Joe Biden's eventual COVID diagnosis for months during her first spot after joining MSNBC.
Calling into the network on Thursday following news of Biden's positive diagnosis, Psaki said the White House had long been bracing for an eventual COVID infection from the president.
She advised her former boss and colleagues to make sure Biden appeared 'active' following the diagnosis to quell worries from the American people.
'What they need to do over the next couple of days is show him working and show him still active and serving as president and I'm certain they'll likely do that,' Psaki said.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki (above) called into MSNBC to discuss what the White House needs to do to prevent worry over President Joe Biden's COVID diagnosis
The White House confirmed the president caught the coronavirus on Thursday, with regular messages in between to show that the president was doing fine. Psaki said they will need to keep displaying that Biden is up and about working
Psaki added that the White House must remain transparent when discussing the president's condition and his road to complete recovery
In her first major appearance since leaving the administration earlier this year to join MSNBC as a host and analyst, Psaki weighed in on what Biden's options were in dealing with the optics of his positive diagnosis.
'One is to be as transparent as possible,' Psaki said. 'You don't want to have big mysterious questions hanging out there about how the president is doing, what his health looks like.'
'That is the reason why I suspect they put out this morning that he's experiencing mild symptoms and that he's begun to take Paxlovid,' she noted.
In a video posted on Twitter on Thursday, the 79-year-old - the oldest person ever to serve as president - tried to reassure the nation that everything was going to be OK.
'Hey folks, I guess you heard: This morning I tested positive for COVID,' he said, standing on the White House balcony overlooking the south lawn.
'But I've been double vaccinated, double-boosted, symptoms are mild and I really appreciate your inquiries and concerns.
'I'm doing well. Getting a lot of work done. I'm going to continue to get it done.
'And in the meantime, thanks for your concern and keep the faith. It's going to be OK.'
The message from officials throughout the day was that the president was in good spirits, hard at work, and that there was little cause for concern.
Psaki said the message will have to be repeated everyday until the president fully recovers in order to prove that he is not out of commission.
'That is something that they will have to plan out for every day,' Psaki said. 'Showing him on the phone with congressional leaders, foreign leaders, others and engaging in the business in doing his job.'
She added that she believed the president would do just fine recovering from the virus given his access to top medical care.
'Every president has access to the best medical care in the world,' Psaki said, 'and fortunately every White House regardless of whether you're going through a pandemic or not, is prepared for the President to serve in a variety of places, locations, including recovering from COVID in the White House.'
Biden thanked the public for their concerns in a video message issued after he tested positive for COVID-19, where he said his symptoms were mild
Biden's doctor said symptoms of a dry cough, runny nose and fatigue had begun on Wednesday evening. The president had tested negative on Tuesday
With symptoms emerging on average about five days after contact with an infectious person, Biden's recent contacts and travel will be under scrutiny for a possible source.
Six days ago, Biden was in Saudi Arabia, where he bumped fists with the controversial figure of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman; and earlier he was forced to pause remarks in Israel because of a coughing fit.
But Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, during her daily briefing, said it was irrelevant where he caught the disease.
'I don't think that that matters, right? I think what matters is we prepared for this moment,' she said, flagging the availability of vaccines and new drugs since Biden took power.
'These are these are treatments that are going to keep you safe. And I think that what matters here is making sure that we continue to do the work and the good thing is that the president again has been vaccinated and double boosted.'
She continued to say that the priority was contact tracing and Biden's health.
While the virus cut a swath through Washington's political class - from Vice President Kamala Harris to cabinet secretaries and successive press secretaries - Biden had avoided testing positive.
In part that was because of stringent measures to protect the commander-in-chief, such as not serving water to guests in his presence - lest they remove their masks - and seating him 10ft from participants in meetings.
Dr. Kevin O'Connor, physician to the president, said symptoms began on Wednesday evening.
In a letter to the press secretary he said he expected the president to respond well to the treatment.
'President Biden is currently experiencing mild symptoms, mostly rhinorrhea (or 'runny nose') and fatigue, with an occasional dry cough, which started yesterday evening,' he wrote.
Yet the doctor was not present at Jean-Pierre's briefing. Instead, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha fielded questions about the president's health, despite not having treated Biden.
That drew accusations that the White House was being less than transparent.
'Could we get the president's physician here,' asked White House Correspondents Association President Tamara Keith, 'so that we can not play the game of telephone?'
And it led to confusion about when exactly the president developed symptoms and whether he had isolated at that point - in line with CDC guidance - or only after he received a positive test.
O'Connor's letter suggested Biden may have developed symptoms on Wednesday night, while Jha suggested that the president felt merely tired after a day of travel and that the runny nose and dry cough developed at about the same time as his positive test.
Jha also confirmed that Biden had stopped taking two heart medicines - a blood thinner to protect against clots and a medication to lower cholesterol.
'It's a very standard common thing that we do when we give people Paxlovid,' he said.
'And you don't need to do anything in those circumstances. They both get stopped for the five days that he's on Paxlovid and then they get restarted and it's totally fine and pretty normal practice.'
Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, a day after he traveled to Massachusetts to deliver a major speech on climate change
The first lady's office said on Thursday that Jill Biden had tested negative, despite being a close contact, and would stick to her schedule in Michigan and Georgia. She told reporters that her husband was doing well
The first lady's office said Jill Biden had tested negative in Detroit on Thursday morning, and would stick to her planned schedule in Michigan and Georgia.
And a White House official said Vice President Kamala Harris had also tested negative.
'She was last with the president on Tuesday,' said the official. 'She spoke to the president by phone this morning.'
Harris's schedule - a trip to North Carolina - continued as planned but a White House official later said she was considered a 'close contact,' which means she is required take precautions for 10 days, according to CDC guidelines, such as wearing a mask around others.
Jean-Pierre said Biden's last negative test came on Tuesday.
And she said the White House will provide a daily update on his health and that the president will take part in his planned meetings by phone and Zoom from the White House residence.
'Consistent with White House protocol for positive COVID cases, which goes above and beyond CDC guidance, he will continue to work in isolation until he tests negative,' she added.
'Once he tests negative, he will return to in-person work.'
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