he s currently getting treatment with paxlovid as we hear that and that is to reduce the likelihood that, in fact, he would be hospitalized or have more severe symptoms from covid. the first lady has tested negative as well. the vice president has been informed of the president s positive test as well so following this breaking news story out of washington and, of course, the fallout from all of this because the president has an incredibly busy schedule ahead and how he s going to deal with all of. i want to bring in mike who has been standing by for us following what s going on inside the white house as the president continues to isolate. we re told that the president will isolate until they re quite conservative about it, until he tests negative. if you know differently than me, let me know. what else are you hearing? reporter: no, that is, in fact, the white house protocols for just this scenario, whether you re the president of the united states or whether you re a ju
all right, with me now nbc s mike memoli at the white house. dr. vin gupta is here, medical contributor joining us as well. memoli, let me go to you first and reset what you know about how the president is doing and what s being done to monitor his condition during this time. reporter: well, we just heard in the last half hour to dr. kevin o connor, the president s chief physician, has been his chief physician since his time as vice president so a long relationship, he indicated that, yes, the president is experiencing mild symptoms, a runny nose, a little bit of fatigue, these symptoms came. they began late last night. we understand the president actually had a bit of trouble sleeping and that he was tested this morning first, an antigen and then when that showed a positive result they confirmed it with a pcr test. he is now isolating at the white house and will be monitored and has been given paxlovid, that treatment which dr. o connor indicates has been one that
my job so trying to telegraph that politics should be set aside and know it got so politicized with vaccines and the debates we re having around the country but i think it s remarkable he has every step of the way done it on live tv. i remember being in the room when he was getting his first booster. he was literally taking questions from reporters as he got that shot and it s because he really wanted to tell people, this can be transparent. we should all be in this together and point out as he s going to be doing his job full time with covid. so is bennie thompson, right? we re doing the january 6th committee hearing. eight big summer hearing. primetime. he s going to be doing this hearing chairing it remotely because he has covid so it also tells you that in 2022 while the pandemic is still going flew and, of course, impacting so many people, there are at the highest levels of our government people telegraphing you can continue to do your job if you feel well enough to do it. memol
a terrible back issue. a lot of other things we didn t know about jfk. most people did not see fdr in a wheelchair, even though he was paralyzed with polio. he always was covered with a blanket and they made an effort to have him stand up. it s very important in the modern age for presidents to be as transparent as possible. that s what this white house is attempting to do. in speaking about that transparency, as you said, andrea, and the importance of this president continuing to show up and to work, despite his covid diagnosis, i do want to go to mike memoli on that, who has some more developing news on this situation. mike, i m wondering in the consideration this white house is putting into when the president will speak to the american people despite this covid diagnosis, just a couple hours ago at this point. reporter: you can understand discussions are happening behind closed doors.