Biden tests negative for COVID again, will isolate until confirmed

President Joe Biden examined unfavorable for COVID-19 on Saturday after a “rebound” case of the virus, however will proceed isolating till he receives one other unfavorable take a look at, his physician stated.

“Strict isolation measures” will proceed “in an abundance of warning,” Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in a every day replace posted by the White Home.

Biden—who initially examined optimistic July 21, after every week of touring throughout the Center East—examined unfavorable for the virus on July 26 and 27, when he ended his isolation.

He moreover examined unfavorable July 28 and July 29 earlier than testing optimistic once more July 30, in accordance with a letter from O’Connor to White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

‘Rebound COVID,’ Paxlovid and in any other case

Biden was handled with the COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid the day he was recognized, in accordance with a number of information retailers. It’s a capsule accredited for therapy of COVID-19 in high-risk adults just like the aged, having acquired emergency-use authorization from the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration.

However the drug is thought for “rebound” instances, referred to by the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention as “a short return of signs.”

Such rebounds, nonetheless, can occur with or with out Paxlovid, Andy Pekosz, virologist on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being, not too long ago instructed Fortune.

“It’s not unusual for individuals to have a optimistic take a look at just a few days after a unfavorable take a look at with COVID-19,” he stated. “What I feel individuals are extra targeted on nowadays is that if this can be a Paxlovid rebound, that means he’ll have a recurrence of the virus.”

Whereas the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention says that COVID rebounds are uncommon, they may very well be extra widespread than we all know, as most people with COVID cease testing after they obtain a unfavorable outcome.

“The White Home does an excellent job of testing individuals each day,” Pekosz stated. “They’re more likely to catch a few of these uncommon issues with that stage of frequency.”

The president’s rebound optimistic take a look at was an antigen, or fast, take a look at, O’Connor wrote. Antigen checks are superior in terms of gauging whether or not or not somebody is shedding reside virus and, due to this fact, infectious, Pekosz stated, including {that a} optimistic antigen take a look at is “in all probability a very good motive to return into isolation.”

Fauci’s Paxlovid rebound

When recognized with COVID in June, chief presidential medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci was prescribed the antiviral because of his superior age, which put him at larger danger for a extreme consequence from COVID, regardless of being absolutely vaccinated and twice boosted.

Fauci later stated he had skilled a Paxlovid rebound.

“After I completed the 5 days of Paxlovid, I reverted to unfavorable on an antigen take a look at for 3 days in a row,” Fauci, 81, stated throughout an occasion at Overseas Coverage’s International Well being Discussion board, Bloomberg reported. “After which on the fourth day, simply to be completely sure, I examined myself once more.”

“I reverted again to optimistic.”

Fauci later instructed the New York Instances that Paxlovid stored him out of the hospital and stopped his an infection from changing into extra extreme initially, saying, “Paxlovid did what it was speculated to do.”

Fauci started a second course of Paxlovid when signs emerged “a lot worse than the primary go-around,” he stated. In Could the CDC issued a well being advisory about such rebounds, saying there was no proof that extra therapy is required for rebound instances.

In June, Pfizer, which manufactures Paxlovid, introduced that it will cease including new members to a trial of the drug amongst COVID sufferers at low danger of hospitalization and demise. The examine did not show that the drug lowered signs, or hospitalizations and deaths, in a statistically important method, in accordance with Bloomberg.

However Paxlovid could also be undeservedly gaining a nasty rap, Pekosz cautioned.

“I’ll nonetheless level to the truth that it’s working by way of holding individuals out of the hospital—that’s crucial factor proper now,” he stated, including that it could have to be retooled to raised deal with Omicron subvariants.

How lengthy to quarantine?

The CDC at the moment advises COVID-positive people to quarantine for 5 days earlier than returning to regular life (and masking in public for a further 5 days). The really useful isolation time was 10 days till December, when the federal well being company halved it.

However “there may be not knowledge to help 5 days or something shorter than 10 days,” Amy Barczak, a doctor on the Massachusetts Normal Hospital Infectious Illness Division, not too long ago instructed Nature.

Some scientists have questioned the rationale behind the coverage for the reason that CDC launched it late final yr. And now critics have extra knowledge to again up their claims: Viral shedding can happen past 10 days in even wholesome, vaccinated adults, in accordance with a preprint out of London printed this month.

Some scientists advise that individuals cease quarantining solely as soon as they take a look at unfavorable utilizing at-home checks, somewhat than counting on the CDC’s five-day rule alone.

Biden did so, nonetheless, testing unfavorable at 5 after which six days after an infection earlier than ending his isolation. The White Home had stated that Biden would go “above and past” the CDC’s five-day steerage and wait till he examined unfavorable earlier than returning to public life.

He apparently wasn’t anticipating a rebound.