Biden Tests Negative for COVID-19, to Leave ‘Strict Isolation’

President Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 after being in isolation for five days, according to his physician.

Now, the president will discontinue his isolation starting Wednesday, White House Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in a letter (pdf). It came after Biden, who has received two booster doses, took one antigen test on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday, which both showed negative results, the doctor said.

“Yesterday evening, and then again, this morning, he tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus by antigen testing,” O’Connor said in his letter to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “Given these reassuring factors, the President will discontinue his strict isolation measures.”

SARS-CoV-2 is also known as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.

Biden will wear a “well-fitting mask” for 10 full days when he’s around other people, said O’Connor. Biden has completed a five-day course of Pfizer-made Paxlovid and is “fever free,” said the doctor, who added that the president also discontinued taking Tylenol for his COVID-19 symptoms.

“Acknowledging the potential for so-called ‘rebound’ COVID positivity observed in a small percentage of patients treated with Paxlovid, the president will increase his testing cadence, both to protect people around him and to assure early detection of any return of viral replication,” O’Connor added.

Paxlovid

The doctor was making reference to an alert sent out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that suggests some patients who get Paxlovid will experience a recurrence of symptoms after a negative test. Biden received the Paxlovid because he’s 79 years old and considered at risk of developing severe symptoms.

Top White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci, 81, said he experienced a rebound in COVID-19 symptoms several days after he tested negative for COVID-19 as he was taking Paxlovid, which was given an emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration in late 2021.

“Paxlovid is a very good drug, but it has drug-drug interactions with many of the drugs I believe the president is on, including blood thinners or anti-coagulants, and it could cause dangerous changes in that,” former White House COVID-19 testing czar Brett Giroir told Fox News last week about Biden’s prognosis. “So, I’m sure the White House medical unit is on this and is monitoring that. But that is one issue with Paxlovid in addition to the rebound that I would watch for in the president.”

White House officials said Biden is scheduled to give remarks at the White House Rose Garden at around 11:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

Previously, the administration said that no other White House staff who were in close proximity to Biden contracted COVID-19. The diagnosis is the first time the president has contracted the virus.