Biden reinitiating ‘strict isolation procedures’ after positive COVID test, doctor says

President Biden will “reinitiate strict isolation procedures” after he tested positive for COVID-19 following several days of returning negative tests, his physician, Kevin O’Connor, said in a letter on Saturday.

“As described last week, acknowledging the potential for so-called ‘rebound’ COVID positivity observed in a small percentage of patients treated with PAXLOVID, the President increased his testing cadence, both to protect people around him and to assure early detection of any return of viral replication,” O’Connor wrote to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Biden tested positive again late Saturday morning after testing negative multiple times beginning Tuesday evening, O’Connor said, adding that “this in fact represents the ‘rebound’ positivity.”

The physician said he did not see a need to restart treatment for Biden, saying that the president continued to feel “quite well” and that COVID-19 symptoms had not reemerged.

Biden, who is 79, tested positive for COVID-19 last week and completed a five-day course of the antiviral treatment Paxlovid. He isolated for five days, stopping on Wednesday after twice testing negative.

Several senators have also tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days, complicating the timeline for when the upper chamber could pass a reconciliation package on climate, health and taxes.