Nearly 10 days after President Joe Biden first tested positive for Covid-19 — and days after he returned to action after testing negative — he has returned to isolation after experiencing a “rebound” case of the virus.
“Folks, today I tested positive for COVID again,” Biden tweeted Saturday. “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.”
A quick update. pic.twitter.com/FgT1sGlZCY
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 30, 2022
White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor explained in a letter Saturday that Biden was among the “small percentage of patients treated with Paxlovid” to have ‘rebound’ positivity.
“After testing negative Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning, the President tested positive late Saturday morning,” O’Connor wrote.
“The President has experience no reemergence of symptoms, and continues to feel quite well. This being the case, there is no reason to reinitiate treatment at this time, but we will obviously continue close observation.”
Biden previously praised Paxlovid, calling it a “game-changer in our fight against [variant] BA.5”
“Doc prescribed it to me when I was COVID positive,” Biden tweeted earlier this week.
Paxlovid is a game-changer in our fight against BA.5. Doc prescribed it to me when I was COVID positive.
The drug reduces risk of hospitalization and death by about 90% — and you can access these pills for free at tens of thousands of local drug stores around the country.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 28, 2022
“The drug reduces risk of hospitalization and death by about 90% — and you can access these pills for free at tens of thousands of local drug stores around the country.”
While no exhibiting any symptoms, Biden was put back into “strict” isolation, with only mandatory White House staff and Secret Service coming into his (socially distanced) proximity. The president’s trip Tuesday to visit a manufacturing plant in Michigan, as well as a Sunday visit to his Wilmington, Delaware home to reunite with the quarantining First Lady, were canceled, the Associated Press reported.
