First Lady Jill Biden tests positive for Covid, White House says

The first lady’s positive test comes just over one week after Mr Biden ended a week of isolation following a positive Covid test result

First Lady Dr Jill Biden has tested positive for Covid-19, the White House has said.

In a statement, Dr Biden’s communications director Elizabeth Allen said the First Lady “began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening” on Monday. She added that a rapid Covid-19 test Dr Biden took as part of the White House’s regular testing regimen had come back negative, but a second — more accurate — PCR test gave a positive result.

“The First Lady is double-vaccinated, twice boosted, and only experiencing mild symptoms. She has been prescribed a course of Paxlovid and, following CDC guidance, will isolate from others for at least five days,” she said.

Ms Allen added that Dr Biden’s close contacts have been notified and said the First Lady will remain at the South Carolina location where she and the rest of President Joe Biden’s family have been vacationing until she tests negative twice.

The first lady’s positive test comes just over one week after Mr Biden ended a week of isolation following a positive Covid test result of his own. Physician to the President Dr Kevin O’Connor said the president’s positive test — which came less than a week after he ended a previous isolation period — was caused by “rebound positivity” resulting from a course of Paxlovid prescribed to him after he initially tested positive for the coronavirus on 27 July.