After testing negative Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, Joe Biden tested positive again.

The president will return to isolation despite not having new symptoms.

He wrote that he tested positive for carbon dioxide again. I will be isolating for the sake of everyone around me.

I will return to the road soon.

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

Biden was one of millions of Americans who tested positive for BA.5. His first positive test came after a week in the Middle East. According to the Associated Press, he tested negative for the virus on Tuesday night and again the next day.

What is Paxlovid?

Multiple news outlets are reporting that the president was treated with Paxlovid the day he was diagnosed. It was approved for use in high-risk adults by the FDA.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refers to the drug as a brief return of symptoms.

Due to his advanced age, chief presidential medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci was prescribed the antiviral even though he was fully vaccine and twice boosted.

Fauci claimed to have experienced a Paxlovid rebound.

Fauci said that after he finished Paxlovid, he reverted to negative on his test for three days in a row. I tested myself again on the fourth day.

He said he went back to positive.

Fauci told the New York Times that Paxlovid kept him out of the hospital and stopped his infections from getting worse.

Fauci started a second course of Paxlovid when symptoms became much worse than the first. There was no evidence that additional treatment was needed for rebound cases according to the CDC. It's not clear why Fauci acted against the CDC.

Pfizer, the manufacturer of Paxlovid, stopped adding new participants to a trial of the drug at low risk of hospitalization and death. The study didn't show that the drug reduced symptoms in a statistically significant way.

How long to quarantine?

If you are positive for COVID, the CDC recommends that you be isolated for five days and then return to normal life. The health agency halved its recommendation after 10 days.

According to Amy Barczak, a physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital infectious disease division, there is no data to support shorter than 10 days.

The scientific rationale for the policy has been questioned by scientists. Critics have more data to back up their claims after a preprint was published in London.

People should stop quarantining if they test negative using at- home tests, rather than relying on the CDC's five day rule, according to some scientists.

Biden had a negative test at five and then six days after he got sick, but he was free of the disease before he went back to work. Biden would wait until he tested negative before returning to public life, according to the White House.

If you sign up for the email list, you will be kept up to date with our biggest features, exclusive interviews, and investigations.