First Lady Jill Biden Tests Positive For COVID-19

First Lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing cold-like symptoms, the White House announced Tuesday morning.

The news comes a few weeks after President Biden contracted the virus and tested positive repeatedly for nearly two weeks.

“After testing negative for COVID-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening,” the First Lady’s Communications Director Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement. “She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive. The First Lady is double-vaccinated, twice boosted, and only experiencing mild symptoms.”

“She has been prescribed a course of Paxlovid and, following CDC guidance, will isolate from others for at least five days,” the statement added. “Close contacts of the First Lady have been notified. She is currently staying at a private residence in South Carolina and will return home after she receives two consecutive negative COVID tests.”

Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 today and will return to Washington, D.C., from his South Carolina vacation as planned, while the First Lady will remain in South Carolina to isolate.

“The President tested negative for COVID this morning on an antigen test,” the White House Press Secretary tweeted. “Consistent with CDC guidance because he is a close contact of the First Lady, he will mask for 10 days when indoors and in close proximity to others. We will also increase the President’s testing cadence and report those results.”

Consistent with CDC guidance because he is a close contact of the First Lady, he will mask for 10 days when indoors and in close proximity to others. We will also increase the President's testing cadence and report those results.

— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) August 16, 2022