US President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 again on Saturday morning with no symptoms, and will return to self-isolation to “protect” those around him, his personal physician said in a letter released by the White House.
A&n update from Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Physician to the President. pic.twitter.com/40oqYOYTQN
rn—The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 30, 2022
The 79-year-old president “tested positive late Saturday morning in an antigen test” and “will be resuming strict containment measures,” Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote, noting that cases of “rebound” of positivity can occur in people treated with Paxlovid, Pfizer’s anti-COVID pill.
Mr. Biden himself tweeted to break the news.
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.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 30, 2022
“Friends, I tested positive for COVID again. It happens to a small minority of people. I have no symptoms but will self-isolate for the safety of everyone around me,” he wrote.
“I’m still working and I’ll be back on the road soon,” said the man who was to travel to Michigan on August 2 to speak on a law releasing $ 52 billion in subsidies to revive the production of semi- drivers in the United States.
This trip – like another to Wilmington, Delaware – will not take place for the moment, the American executive indicated, and the president will remain in solitary confinement at the White House until he is tested negative.
Under observation
As Mr. Biden had tested negative on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning, “this is definitely rebound positivity”, according to Mr. Biden’s doctor.
“The president has not experienced a resurgence of symptoms and continues to feel completely well,” he added.
“There is therefore no reason to resume treatment at this point,” but Mr. Biden, the oldest president ever elected in the United States, will remain under observation, he continued.
Mr Biden had tested positive on July 21 with “very mild symptoms” and was released from confinement on Wednesday, after testing negative.
The president, fully vaccinated and who has received two booster doses, is keen to “protect all those (…) who have to work near him”, whether they are White House staff, his body or those around him, concluded Dr. O’Connor.
Paxlovid is an antiviral treatment that works by reducing the ability of the virus to replicate, thus slowing the progression of the disease. It must be taken within the first few days after symptoms appear to be effective.
It is recommended in the United States for people at risk of developing a severe case of the disease, a category into which the American president falls due to his age.
Joe Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, announced on October 2, 2020 on Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
He had been evacuated by helicopter from the White House to the Walter Reed military hospital, and had been treated there for three nights.