- 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.
- Biden got a "rebound" case, but Carper said he "never felt bad and I give Dr. Biden some of the credit."
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.
