First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday on the last day of a family beach trip to South Carolina — just days after President Biden fully recovered from a weeks-long illness.
The president’s wife, 71, is double-vaxxed and boosted, but returned a positive PCR test after developing “cold-like symptoms” Monday evening, according to a statement from her spokesperson, Elizabeth Alexander.
The White House said that Joe Biden, 79, tested negative for COVID-19 Tuesday morning, but would wear a mask for 10 days when indoors and around others because he’s a close contact of his wife.
Biden flew back to Washington Tuesday to sign the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $437 billion in spending on mostly environmental programs, offset by tax hikes, an IRS crackdown and savings from allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
The president was then expected to travel on to his home in Delaware on Tuesday night. It was not immediately clear whether the first lady’s positive test would impact that plan.
As Biden boarded Air Force One, he gave a thumbs-up to reporters who asked about his wife’s condition.
A person who has recovered from COVID-19 can contract the virus again, even over a short period of time.
Jill Biden will self-isolate for at least five days and remain at the South Carolina home where the first family had been vacationing until she receives two consecutive negative COVID tests, her office said.
The first lady is experiencing mild symptoms, the White House added.
Jill Biden’s case comes nearly a month after the president first tested positive for COVID July 21, shortly after returning from a trip to the Middle East. Joe Biden tested negative five days after his initial infection, but tested positive again days later in a “rebound” case of the coronavirus. He was cleared to travel again Aug. 7, after another eight days in isolation.