'Paxlovid': That's the one-word advice Joe Biden gave fellow Delawarean Sen. Tom Carper when he got COVID-19
- President Joe Biden offered his friend, Sen. Tom Carper, medical advice after they both got COVID.
- The Delaware Democrat said Biden told him to take Paxlovid.
President Joe Biden called fellow Delaware Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper, with some medical advice after learning he tested positive for COVID-19.
"He said 'Just one word of advice,'" Carper said, recounting the conversation to Insider. "He said, 'Paxlovid.'"
Biden and Carper tested positive a day apart last month and Biden, who is vaccinated and twice boosted, started taking the antiviral drug the same day. Biden got a "rebound" case, which happens with some patients treated with Paxlovid. He left isolation on Sunday.
But Carper, 75, who has also had his shots, said he got a prescription that night and the advice worked. "I worked out every day and felt great throughout the whole time," he said. "I still feel great."
The two were not considered a "close contact," and their COVID chat apparently got pretty wonky from there, with Carper filling in Biden on his negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, on a methane reduction program.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for her part, said she spent her COVID quarantine watching "Bridgerton" on Netflix and raising money.
But Carper says it was a helpful talk.
"I never felt bad and I give Dr. Biden some of the credit," he said.