coronavirus pandemic

First Lady Jill Biden Tests Negative for COVID After Rebound Case

Jill Biden, 71, and her husband, 79, have been twice-vaccinated and twice-boosted with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

FILE - First lady Jill Biden speaks at an event in the East Room of the White House, June 15, 2022, in Washington. White House says the first lady has tested negative for COVID-19 and will return to the Washington, area on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File

First lady Jill Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Monday and will return to Washington on Tuesday, nearly a week after she came down with a “rebound” case of the coronavirus.

Her communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, announced the negative test in a statement Monday night.

Jill Biden had been isolating at her family's house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, since testing positive on Aug. 24, and at the time, her spokesperson said she was not experiencing any symptoms. She first tested positive for the virus on Aug. 15, when she and President Joe Biden were vacationing in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

The president, who had his own back-to-back cases of COVID-19, was identified as a close contact of his wife and the White House said he was undergoing more frequent testing for the virus as a precaution. While Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines called for Biden to wear a face covering in close proximity to others indoors, he was seen without a mask hugging and taking selfies with supporters during an indoor rally on Thursday in the Washington suburbs.

The first lady had tested negative for the coronavirus on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the first lady said this is a “rebound” case and that she is not experiencing any symptoms.

Jill Biden, 71, and her husband, 79, have been twice-vaccinated and twice-boosted with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. She had been prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid, which has proven to be highly effective at preventing serious disease and death among those at highest risk from COVID-19. A minority of those prescribed the drug have experienced a rebound case of the virus a few days after their initial recovery.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us