White House: Biden 'feeling fine' after 2nd COVID-19 infection

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The White House said Monday President Joe Biden is "feeling fine" after he was diagnosed with a rebound case of COVID-19 over the weekend.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a press briefing the president is continuing to isolate and is working more than eight hours a day from the residence after he tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time Saturday.

"It doesn't stop him from doing the job and doing the work of the American people," Jean-Pierre said. "So he is in the White House residence and he is going to continue to do that as he isolates."

Jean-Pierre said the president will abide by recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and will isolate for five days after the rebound. She said Biden has no new symptoms, but is still experiencing some lingering symptoms, like a dry cough from his initial diagnosis.

Jean-Pierre said Biden has resumed all of the medication he was on. She emphasized that while the president took Paxlovid after he first tested positive for COVID-19, there was always a chance of relapse.

"A small percentage of folks do have a relapse," she said. "That is what we saw. But he is doing well."

Jean-Pierre said the 17 contacts from Biden's first positive test continue to test negative and the six close contacts he had before his second positive test also continue to test negative.

Biden tested positive for a second time on Saturday, just days after he was cleared of his first infection and left isolation.

Physician to the President Dr. Kevin O'Connor said in an update Monday that Biden is free of symptoms.

"Given his rebound positivity which we reported Saturday, we continued daily monitoring," he said in his daily update letter. "This morning, as we could be anticipated, his SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing remained positive."

O'Connor added that Biden will keep in isolation and continue to work from the executive residence.

"As I have stated previously, the president continues to be very specifically conscientious to protect any of the executive residence, White House, Secret Service and other staff whose duties require any proximity to him," he wrote in the letter.

Biden was first diagnosed with a COVID-19 infection on July 21 and experienced only mild symptoms over the next few days. Over the duration, he took the antiviral treatment Paxlovid.

The president is fully vaccinated and double boosted.

Doctors said that Biden caught the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, which is more transmissible than other variants.