First lady Jill Biden tests positive for COVID-19 in rebound case

First lady Jill Biden tested positive Wednesday for COVID-19 in an apparent rebound infection days after last testing negative for the viral infection.

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Biden’s deputy communications director, Kelsey Donohue, confirmed the positive test in a statement. She said the first lady last tested negative for COVID-19 on Tuesday.

“The First Lady has experienced no reemergence of symptoms, and will remain in Delaware where she has reinitiated isolation procedures,” Donohue said. “The White House Medical Unit has conducted contact tracing and close contacts have been notified.”

Biden isolated for several days in South Carolina after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. She tested negative for the viral infection on two consecutive days and left isolation on Monday.

The first lady’s doctor prescribed a course of Paxlovid, an antiviral treatment aimed at reducing the severity of the disease. Paxlovid is a standard course of treatment for people who are considered to be at higher risk of adverse effects of COVID-19, including anyone over 50. Earlier this year, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the medication can cause a COVID-19 rebound case for patients between two and eight days after they’ve recovered.

President Joe Biden also experienced a rebound COVID-19 case last month after taking Paxlovid. He tested negative for the viral infection in early August.

Since the start of the pandemic, officials have reported more than 93.7 million cases of COVID-19 nationwide, resulting in over 1 million deaths, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. Globally, 598.2 million cases have been reported, resulting in 6.4 million deaths, according to the university.

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