President Joe Biden continues to test positive for coronavirus in ‘rebound’ case

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden continued to test positive for the coronavirus Sunday, a day after being diagnosed with a “rebound” case, his physician said.

In a new memo released Sunday, the president’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, said Biden’s latest positive antigen test was not surprising.

“The President continues to feel well,” O’Connor wrote, adding that Biden will work out of the Executive Residence while he continues his isolation.

Biden, 79, first tested positive for the coronavirus on July 21, a Thursday, and began taking Paxlovid, an antiviral therapy that has proved highly effective in tackling coronavirus symptoms. After the president’s original positive test result, O’Connor said Biden – who is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and has received two booster shots – should respond well to Paxlovid, “as most maximally protected patients do.”

After daily monitoring, Biden tested negative the following Tuesday evening. He emerged from his COVID-19 isolation last Wednesday with a speech in the Rose Garden touting his relatively short isolation and mild symptoms as a testament to his administration’s progress on the pandemic. He urged people to take advantage of vaccine boosters, antivirals and at-home tests as well.

Biden tested negative last Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning, before testing positive again Saturday using an antigen test. Biden and his doctor said he was experiencing no symptoms during the rebound infection.

Biden removed his mask for some of the events last week. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was still in compliance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because he was more than 6 feet apart from others.

The Washington Post’s Bryan Pietsch contributed to this report.