White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a letter that Biden “has not had any further symptoms and continues to feel quite well.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, Biden will re-enter isolation for at least five days. The agency says most cases of recovery remain mild and that serious illness during this period has not been reported. News of Biden’s positive test came just two hours after the White House announced a presidential visit to Michigan next Tuesday to highlight the passage of a bill to promote domestic high-tech manufacturing. Biden was also scheduled to visit the Wilmington, Del., home of first lady Jill Biden on Sunday morning while the president tested positive. Both trips were canceled as Biden returned to self-isolation. Biden, 79, was treated with the antiviral drug Paxlovid and tested negative for the virus on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was then released from isolation wearing a mask indoors. His positive tests put him among the minority of those prescribed the drug to experience a rebound of the virus. Pfizer’s Paxlovid, an antiviral treatment for COVID-19, appears. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The White House’s coordinator for COVID-19, Dr. Ashish Jha, told reporters on July 25 that the data “suggests that between five and eight percent of people have recovered” after treatment with Paxlovid. “Recognizing the possibility of a so-called ‘bounceback’ of COVID positivity seen in a small percentage of patients treated with Paxlovid, the president increased his tried and tested pace to protect those around him and ensure early detection of any resurgence of viral replication “, O. ” Connor wrote in his letter. O’Connor reported negative tests for Biden from Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday morning, before the positive result Saturday morning with an antigen test. “This actually represents ‘bounce’ positivity,” he wrote. Both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Pfizer point out that one to two percent of people in Pfizer’s initial study of Paxlovid saw their viral levels recover after 10 days. The rate was about the same among people taking the drug or the placebo pills, “so it’s not clear at this point that this is related to the drug treatment,” according to the FDA. While Biden tested negative, he returned to hosting internal events and meetings with White House staff and wore a mask, as directed by the CDC. However, the president removed his mask indoors when he delivered remarks on Thursday and during a meeting with CEOs on the White House compound. WATCHES | Should we wear masks indoors again as cases rise?:
The COVID-19 outbreak is prompting immediate recommendations for indoor mask use
With cases of COVID-19 rising across the country, some health officials are suggesting people consider covering up indoors — but they’re a long way from calling for the reinstatement of mask mandates. Asked why Biden appeared to be violating CDC protocols, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said: “They were socially distanced. They were far enough apart. So we made it safe for them to be together, to be at this stage.” Regulators are still studying the prevalence and infectivity of rebound cases, but the CDC in May warned doctors that it has been reported to occur within two days to eight days of an initial negative test for the virus. “The limited information currently available from case reports suggests that people treated with Paxlovid who recover from COVID-19 had mild disease; there are no reports of severe disease,” the agency said at the time. WATCHES | Cases of recovery question the effectiveness of Paxlovid:
Paxlovid’s power is challenged as Omicron rises again
A rebound in COVID-19 symptoms after taking the antiviral pill Paxlovid raises concerns about its effectiveness as a new wave of Omicron approaches, says epidemiologist Dr. Christopher Labos. When Biden was initially released from isolation on Wednesday, O’Connor said the president would “increase the pace of his testing” to arrest any possible resurgence of the virus. Patients should be isolated again for at least five days. According to CDC guidance, they can end their isolation period after five full days if the fever has subsided for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medications) and symptoms are improving. The patient should wear a mask for a total of 10 days after the onset of recovery symptoms.” Paxlovid has been shown to significantly reduce serious illness and death among those most vulnerable to COVID-19. US health officials have encouraged those who test positive to consult their doctors or pharmacists to see if they should be prescribed the treatment, despite the risk of a rebound. Biden is fully vaccinated, having received two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine shortly before taking office, a first booster dose in September and an additional dose on March 30. While patients who have recovered from earlier variants of COVID-19 tend to have high levels of immunity to future re-infection for 90 days, Jha said the BA.5 sub-variant that infected Biden has been shown to be more “immune-resistant”. “We’ve seen a lot of people re-infected within 90 days,” he said, adding that officials do not yet have data on how long those who have recovered from the BA.5 strain are protected from re-infection.
