WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 again on Saturday in what the White House physician described as a “rebound” case seen in a small percentage of patients taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
Biden, 79, who emerged from COVID isolation on Wednesday after testing positive on July 21, said he was feeling fine.
He will now return to strict isolation and cancel planned trips to his home in Wilmington and work trip to Michigan, the White House said. Biden held public events on Wednesday and Thursday, but none on Friday.
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The forced seclusion comes as the White House hoped to celebrate some recent legislative victories to help shore up Biden’s slump in the polls.
Biden had planned the trip to Michigan to promote Thursday’s passage of legislation to boost the U.S. semiconductor chip industry.
Biden’s positive test is believed to be a “rebound” experienced by some COVID patients taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid, according to White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor. Paxlovid is an antiviral drug from Pfizer Inc ( PFE.N ) used to treat high-risk patients, such as elderly patients.
A small but significant percentage of people taking Paxlovid will experience a relapse or rebound that occurs days after completing the five-day course of treatment, studies have shown.
U.S. President Joe Biden walks after delivering remarks on the Inflation Relief Act of 2022 at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 28, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
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White House officials had previously suggested that a rebound case of COVID was unlikely, based on case reports across the country. However, Biden continued to be tested and monitored.
Biden tweeted about his positive case, saying it can happen to a “small minority of people.” He later posted a video on Twitter saying that he was “fine” and that “everything is fine.”
A White House official said contact tracing efforts were underway Saturday after Biden tested positive for COVID-19.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, also experienced a rebound from COVID-19. Their symptoms worsened when they returned after treatment and their doctors prescribed another course of Paxlovid.
O’Connor said Biden tested negative for the past four days and there are no plans to restart treatment given his lack of symptoms.
Biden previously described his experience with COVID as mild, saying he was able to continue working while in isolation and attributed his relative ease with the disease to vaccines and other treatments.
O’Connor had previously said Biden would be tested periodically to watch for a possible case of “rebound” COVID-19, which some patients who have been treated with Paxlovid, the drug the president received, can experience.
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Reporting by Pete Schroeder, David Shepardson and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Aurora Ellis, Alistair Bell and Diane Craft
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.