The White House said Saturday that President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 again, a few days after he was cleared to leave the isolation unit.
According to a letter from the White House physician, Biden has not experienced any reappearance of symptoms. There is no reason for treatment to be stopped at the moment.
Biden will return to isolation for at least five days according to CDC guidelines. The White House will be isolated until he tests positive. Severe disease has not been reported in most rebound cases, according to the agency.
Two hours after the White House announced a presidential visit to Michigan this coming Tuesday to highlight the passage of a bill to promote domestic high-tech manufacturing, word came that Biden had passed his test. The president was positive about Biden's visit to his home in Delaware on Sunday morning. Biden has returned to isolation which has led to the cancellation of both trips.
The anti-viral drug Paxlovid was used to treat Biden and he tested negative for the disease on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was allowed to go inside while wearing a mask. He is among a small group of people who have had a rebound case of the viruses after taking the drug.
The datasuggests that between 5 and 8 percent of people have rebounded after Paxlovid treatment.
O'Connor wrote that the President increased his tested cadence to protect people around him and to assure early detection of any return of viral replication.
The negative tests for Biden were cited by O'Connor before the Saturday morning positive test. He wrote that it was a representation of "rebound" positivity.
1% to 2% of people in Pfizer's original study on Paxlovid had their virus levels rebound after 10 days, according to the FDA and Pfizer. It is unclear at this point that this is related to drug treatment, according to the FDA.
While Biden was testing negative, he returned to holding in-person indoor events and meetings with staff at the White House and wore a mask according to CDC guidelines. The president took his mask off when he spoke to CEOs on the White House complex.
The press secretary said that they were socially away from Biden. They were a long way apart. It was safe for them to be together.
The CDC warned doctors in May that rebound cases can occur within two days to eight days after being negative for the virus.
The agency said at the time that there were no reports of severe disease in people who had been treated with Paxlovid.
After Biden was released from isolation on Wednesday, O'Connor said the president would increase his testing to catch any potential rebound of the virus.
It has been shown that Paxlovid reduces severe disease and death among those most vulnerable. The U.S. health officials want people who test positive to consult with their doctors to see if they should be treated.
Biden got two doses of the Pfizer coronaviruses vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster shot in September and an additional dose in March.
Patients who have recovered from earlier versions of COVID-19 tend to have high levels of immunity to re-infection for 90 days.
He said that officials don't yet have data on how long those who have recovered from the BA.5 strain have protection from recontamination.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
