The 79-year-old president “tested positive Saturday morning in an antigen test” and “will resume strict containment measures,” Dr. Kevin O’Connor, noting that cases of “rebound” of positivity can occur in people treated. With Paxlovid, Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill.
As Mr Biden tested negative on Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning, according to Mr Biden’s doctor, “it is definitely a positivity.”
“The president has not experienced a re-emergence of symptoms and is feeling perfectly well,” he said.
“There is therefore no reason to resume treatment at this stage,” but Mr Biden, the oldest ever elected president in the United States, will remain under observation, he continued.
Mr Biden had tested positive on 21 July with “very mild symptoms” and was released from confinement on Wednesday after testing negative.
The president, fully vaccinated and who has received two booster doses, is keen to protect “everyone (…) he has to work with”, whether it is White House staff, of his body. The protector or those around him, Dr. O’Connor concluded.
Paxlovid is an antiviral treatment that works by reducing the ability of the virus to replicate, thus slowing the progression of the disease. It should be taken within the first few days after symptoms take effect.
It is recommended in the United States for people at risk of developing a severe case of the disease, a category in which US presidents fall because of their age.
Joe Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, announced on Twitter on October 2, 2020, that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
He was taken by helicopter from the White House to Walter Reed Military Hospital, and was treated there for three nights.
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