President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID Saturday after four consecutive negative tests this week and will return to isolation, White House doctor Kevin O’Connor announced.
“After testing negative on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning, the President tested positive late Saturday morning, by antigen testing. This in fact represents ‘rebound’ positivity,” O’Connor wrote.
Biden tested positive for COVID Saturday and will return to “strict isolation procedures,” per his physician. pic.twitter.com/18hxQpU0XW
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) July 30, 2022
O’Connor noted that Biden wasn’t experiencing any symptoms following his positive test and was isolating to protect White House staff who would otherwise work closely with him.
Biden’s physician explained that “rebound” positivity “is observed in a small percentage of patients treated with PAXLOVID.” The president received Paxlovid after his positive COVID test on July 21, The Daily Wire previously reported. Following his initial positive test, the 79-year-old commander-in-chief was experiencing “very mild symptoms,” according to the White House, but he was able to participate in regular meetings and is taking Paxlovid.
Hours following the positive COVID test result on July 21, Biden took a maskless photo in the White House. The photo was posted to his official Twitter account shortly after noon after he was forced to cancel an event in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In the photo, Biden is seated at a desk in the West Wing without a mask. The photo was taken only hours after White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that Biden had contracted COVID, which would appear to mean Biden was flouting guidelines set down by his own CDC.
“Folks, I’m doing great. Thanks for your concern,” Biden said in the tweet. “Just called [Pennsylvania] Senator [Bob] Casey, Congressman [Matthew] Cartwright, and [Scranton] Mayor [Paige] Cognetti (and my Scranton cousins!) to send my regrets for missing our event today. Keeping busy!”
Folks, I'm doing great. Thanks for your concern. Just called Senator Casey, Congressman Cartwright, and Mayor Cognetti (and my Scranton cousins!) to send my regrets for missing our event today.
Keeping busy! pic.twitter.com/uf7AsOg571
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 21, 2022
As of March 30, CDC guidelines stipulate that individuals who contract COVID should “[w]ear a well-fitting mask for 10 full days any time you are around others inside your home or in public. Do not go to places where you are unable to wear a well-fitting mask.”
John Rigolizzo contributed to this report.