boosted. let s get back over to the white house to get an update from cnn s jeremy diamond. jeremy, what is the latest you re hearing? reporter: we just received a letter from joe biden s physician, dr. kevin o connor, confirming the news that the white house put out, saying that joe biden has tested positive for covid. he writes that the president tested positive this morning as part of our routine screening program. he says he tested positive on an antigen test that was confirmed via pcr testing. he confirmed what we reported on air just last hour, which is that the president is experiencing mild symptoms, including runny nose, fatigue, with an occasional dry cough, which he said started yesterday evening. i spoke to dr. jha, the white house s coronavirus coordinator. he said the president last night went to bed feeling mostly fine but did not sleep well and tested positive this morning. dr. o connor, the president s physician, is writing here that the president is fully
early on. since he just tested positive this morning, his doctor says it should work well for him. so we ll be watching to see if any of that changes with his condition. and we are waiting on more answers from the white house on this. they ve been very transparent so far, announcing he tested positive and releasing this letter from his doctor. we will hear from the covid-19 response coordinator later on at the white house. i was going to mention that. the white house has been really forth coming with information so far, a briefing coming later today, where we anticipate much more information. but you re at the white house today. what is the sense, the feeling at the white house? how concerned are people? i don t know that people are all too concerned about his health, given the fact that he is double boosted at this point and beginning that course of paxlovid. but this is a moment many folks
early use of paxlovid provides additional protection. he says joe biden will isolate in accordance with the cdc recommendations and will keep us updated on any changes in his condition or treatment plan. thanks for your rotting on this. we are sending our best wishes to the president for a full recovery. kate bolduan continues right now. this is cnn breaking news. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m kate bolduan, we begin with breaking news. joe biden has tested positive for coronavirus. the white house says that the president is experiencing mild symptoms right now, has begun taking a course of the anti-viral drug paxlovid, and he is fully vaccinated and twice
about. he s been traveling internationally. although they have wonderful precautions when he s home in d.c. and at the white house, when he s been out internationally, he s been exposed to folks that are not necessarily following all of those precautions. so not hugely surprised. i m quite hopeful. this is a very different situation from the one we were in when president trump was diagnosed with covid. joe biden is vaccinated, and twice boosted. that in and of itself decreases his risk of severe disease, hospitalization, or death by somewhere between 60% and 90%, depending on the study. you add on to it paxlovid, which reduces even in vaccinated people, reduces that risk of hospitalization by another 80% to 90%. and chance of anything bad happening to him is virtually zero. but this reminds us of why it s important to remember that covid has not disappeared from the united states. it has not disappeared from the world. we do still need to continue to
negative. thos that is a big question. my colleague says she has tested negative for covid-19 today. so that s an update on the vice president. and we ll have further updates, and they ll be here for that. we ll have a briefing this afternoon on everything that we have learned so far, and more about the president s diagnosis and plans going forward as the president has tested positive and begun this course of paxlovid. thank you, guys. much more on that breaking news coming up. also, we re going to turn our focus to the january 6th hearings. they return to primetime tonight. the committee is out with a preview clip of testimony from trump white house insiders. we ll bring that to you, next.