Jill Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, and she is currently experiencing mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while President Joe Biden tested negative. The White House announced that there are no changes to White House Covid protocols or the president’s schedule at this time. The diagnosis comes amid a busy week for Biden, who delivered a Labor Day speech in Philadelphia earlier in the day. The president is scheduled to present the Medal of Honor to an Army captain in a White House ceremony Tuesday before departing for the G20 Summit in India on Thursday.
CNN has asked for more details on both the president and first lady’s regular COVID testing cadence and if Joe Biden was with his wife when she began exhibiting COVID symptoms. Last summer, the first lady tested positive for COVID-19 while vacationing in South Carolina in August. President Joe Biden tested positive last July. Both experienced rebound cases shortly after being treated with Paxlovid. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in July that anyone who meets with the president is still tested for COVID-19 before their meeting after members of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s delegation tested positive ahead of a bilateral meeting. Jill Biden’s diagnosis comes amid renewed attention to COVID-19 as the world approaches the fourth virus season since the coronavirus arrived on the scene.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from earlier in the summer showed a slight increase in hospital admissions, emergency department visits, and positive Covid-19 tests, although not nearly as high as in past summers. Overall, there were about four new hospital admissions for every 100,000 people nationwide in the week ending August 19, which is considered low, according to CDC thresholds.
