Biden Tests Positive for Covid Again in ‘Rebound’ Case

President Biden examined optimistic for the coronavirus once more on Saturday morning, a rebound attributed to the Paxlovid remedy he was taking, however he has not skilled a recurrence of signs, the White Home doctor stated.

Mr. Biden “continues to really feel fairly effectively,” the doctor, Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor, stated in a memo launched by the White Home. “This being the case, there is no such thing as a cause to reinitiate remedy presently, however we are going to clearly proceed shut commentary,” he added.

The optimistic take a look at, nonetheless, implies that Mr. Biden will resume “strict isolation procedures,” as Dr. O’Connor put it, in line with medical recommendation. The White Home stated he would now not make a deliberate journey to his dwelling in Wilmington, Del., on Sunday or a piece journey to Michigan on Tuesday.

Mr. Biden first examined optimistic for the virus on July 21. After 5 days of isolation, he examined adverse on Tuesday night and returned to the Oval Workplace on Wednesday, declaring that his comparatively delicate case demonstrated how a lot progress had been made in combating the virus. However medical doctors have been looking forward to indicators of Paxlovid rebound and examined him each day since. He examined adverse on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday earlier than Saturday morning’s optimistic consequence.

Paxlovid rebound has turn out to be a supply of debate among the many scientific group and Covid sufferers. Preliminary scientific research advised that solely about 1 % to 2 % of these handled with Paxlovid skilled signs once more. A June research that has not been peer-reviewed discovered that of 13,644 adults, about 5 % examined optimistic once more inside 30 days and 6 % skilled signs once more.

However the anecdotal accounts of Paxlovid rebound — together with a case involving Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser — have echoed broadly, inflicting many to wonder if the reported knowledge was nonetheless correct.

“I believe this was predictable,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a distinguished heart specialist and professor of medication and surgical procedure at George Washington College Hospital, wrote on Twitter on Saturday after the president’s optimistic take a look at was disclosed. “The prior knowledge suggesting ‘rebound’ Paxlovid positivity within the low single digits is outdated and with BA.5 is probably going 20-40% and even larger.”

In a Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention research revealed final month that examined the drug’s success in defending folks from extreme circumstances of Covid-19, researchers wrote that signs from a rebound tended to be milder than those who a affected person felt in the course of the major an infection and have been unlikely to result in hospitalization.

The C.D.C. issued an emergency well being advisory in Might that stated folks experiencing a rebound “ought to restart isolation and isolate once more” for a minimum of 5 days, reflecting the company’s basic isolation suggestions for folks contaminated with the virus.

The advisory additionally stated that rebounding didn’t signify reinfection with the virus or the event of resistance to Paxlovid.

Dr. Ashish Okay. Jha, the White Home’s Covid-19 response coordinator, advised reporters when Mr. Biden first examined optimistic that by taking a look at Twitter, “it appears like all people has rebound, nevertheless it turns on the market’s truly scientific knowledge.”

Massive well being programs, he stated, confirmed rebounds to be uncommon, with the share of Paxlovid recipients who skilled them “within the single digits.”

“When folks have rebound, they don’t find yourself within the hospital,” Dr. Jha stated. “They don’t find yourself notably sick.” He added: “Paxlovid is working rather well at stopping critical sickness, rebound or no rebound, and that’s why he was supplied it. And that’s why the president took it.”