Joe Biden has once again tested positive for COVID-19.
He confirmed the news via Twitter, writing, “Folks, today I tested positive for COVID again. This happens with a small minority of folks. I’ve got no symptoms but I am going to isolate for the safety of everyone around me. I’m still at work, and will be back on the road soon.”
CNN reports that in a letter, the presidential physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor said that Biden’s is probably a “rebound” COVID case, which O’Connor wrote is “observed in a small percentage of patients treated with Paxlovid.”
Biden will not be treated again with the anti-viral drug; O’Connor writes that the president hasn’t suffered from “reemergence of symptoms, and continues to feel quite well.” He tested negative from Tuesday to Friday, until testing positive on Saturday morning. He stopped quarantining on Wednesday, though he has now returned to isolation at the White House: “However, given his positive antigen test, he will reinitiate strict isolation procedures,” O’Connor added.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also chimed in, quote-tweeting Biden to write, “The President is asymptomatic, feeling fine, and working in isolation from the Residence to protect others.”
Contact tracers are now working to figure out who came into contact with the president. After he first tested positive on July 21, contact tracers found he had come into contact with 17 people, though none of them contracted the illness. During his first bout, his symptoms included runny nose, fatigue, high temperatures, and a cough. He subsequently took Paxlovid for five days. First lady Dr. Jill Biden has been at their Delaware home since the president’s first positive test.
