This Saturday, July 30, President Joe Biden once again tested positive for COVID-19. His newest diagnosis comes just three days after medical officials cleared him to exist coronavirus isolation. According to White House staff, the president’s illness is a “rare case of rebound” from treatment with an anti-viral drug.
What to Know
- Joe Biden initially tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21. He entered isolation to prevent exposure to White House staff.
- On Friday, July 29, Biden tested negative for COVID-19. This changed on July 30.
- Biden planned on visiting Michigan on Tuesday to promote the passage of a bill. This trip has been canceled.
The positive test means that President Joe Biden will re-enter isolation for at least five days. The Center for Disease Control reports that most rebound cases of COVID-19 tend to be mild. White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor even stated in a letter that Biden “has experienced 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,” O’Connor continued.
Previously, on Friday, the president had tested negative for COVID-19 antigens. However, just two hours after announcing upcoming trips to Michigan and then Delaware, he tested positive.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden would have boarded a plane to the Great Lake State to promote the passage of a bill that would support domestic high-tech manufacturing. Biden also hoped to visit his home in Wilmington, Delaware on Sunday where First Lady Jill Biden has been staying since her husband first tested positive for COVID-19. Both trips have since been canceled as Biden returns to isolation in the White House.
Medical Staff Says President Joe Biden Has More ‘Immune-Evasive’ Strain of Virus
Despite the back-to-back diagnosis, White House medical teams seem confident that President Joe Biden will recover quickly from the second round of COVID-19. During his first diagnosis, Biden took the anti-viral drug Paxlovid. Apparently, this drug has seen 1% to 2% of patients’ virus levels rebound after 10 days.
According to the CDC, “Limited information currently available from case reports suggests that persons treated with Paxlovid who experience COVID-19 rebound have had mild illness; there are no reports of severe disease.”
This rate was also the same as that of a control group that only took dummy pills. Because of this, the FDA says “it is unclear at this point that this is related to drug treatment.”
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha stated that the BA.5 subvariant tends to be more “immune-evasive.” He also stressed the importance of providing updates on the president’s condition.
“We think it’s really important for the American people to know how well their president is doing,” Jha said.
This is a developing story…
