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Biden Again Tests Positive for COVID in a 'Rebound' Case

The president tested positive again on Saturday, after negative results earlier in the week. Biden's doctor says he feels fine.

Edward Moyer Senior Editor
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
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Edward Moyer
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Biden speaking at a lectern with an American flag as backdrop.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

US President Joe Biden tested positive again for COVID-19 late Saturday morning after negative tests for several days, but no symptoms have reemerged and the president "continues to feel quite well," said White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor.

In a memo released Saturday, O'Connor said there's no need for additional treatment at this time but that close observation of the president's condition would continue.

O'Connor said Biden had been testing more frequently for the coronavirus because of the possibility of a COVID recurrence following his treatment with Paxlovid, an oral medication used to prevent severe cases.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an advisory earlier this year that a small number of participants in a clinical trial of Paxlovid had positive test results after testing negative. The agency said in those cases, the recurrence of illness improved or resolved without additional treatment in an average of three days.

O'Connor said Biden would "reinitiate strict isolation procedures" to avoid the possibility of infecting others.

Biden, who's fully vaccinated and double boosted, started taking Paxlovid after testing positive for COVID on July 21. He experienced only mild coronavirus symptoms, including a runny nose, fatigue and an occasional cough.

On Monday, O'Connor said Biden's symptoms had "almost completely resolved," and on Wednesday, the physician said Biden had completed his five-day course of Paxlovid and had tested negative for the first time Tuesday night.

Biden tweeted out a brief note about the new positive test on Saturday morning and later tweeted a quick update video, saying, "I'm feeling fine, everything's good" and adding that he'd be "working from home" for the next couple of days. 

The news about Biden comes amid concern about Omicron BA.5, the new and extremely contagious variant of COVID.

Read more: What We Know About Omicron BA.5

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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