First Lady Jill Biden Has COVID-19

TUESDAY, Aug. 16, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- First Lady Jill Biden has COVID-19 and is experiencing "mild symptoms," according to her staff.

"After testing negative for COVID-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening," Biden's communications director Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement released Tuesday. "She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive."

The First Lady has received two vaccines plus two boosters, and so far her symptoms are mild.

"She has been prescribed a course of [the antiviral drug] Paxlovid and, following CDC guidance, will isolate from others for at least five days," Alexander said.

"Close contacts of the First Lady have been notified," she added, noting that Biden "is currently staying at a private residence in South Carolina and will return home after she receives two consecutive negative COVID tests."

According to the Associated Press, the President and First Lady have been vacationing in South Carolina since Aug. 10.

President Biden only recently recovered from his own mild case of COVID-19, and experienced a "rebound" case during the course of his illness, after testing positive a second time. He too was given a course of Paxlovid to help ease any symptoms.

According to the AP, President Biden tested negative for COVID-19 as of Tuesday morning, but will wear a mask indoors for 10 days as a precaution.

“Consistent with CDC guidance because he is a close contact of the First Lady, he will mask for 10 days when indoors and in close proximity to others,” the White House said in a statement. The President will be tested frequently and results reported.

President Biden is set to return to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon to sign a major bill on climate change and health care that narrowly passed the Senate along party lines. After signing the bill he is expected to travel to the Biden home in Wilmington, Del.

More information

Find out more about COVID-19 at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Office of the First Lady, statement, Aug. 16, 2022; Associated Press

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