First Lady Jill Biden Tests Positive for COVID-19, Taking Pfizer Drug

First Lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19, coming about a month after President Joe Biden initially tested positive for the virus.

“After testing negative for COVID-19 on Monday during her regular testing cadence, the First Lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening,” Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, said on Tuesday in a statement.

Alexander added that the first lady 71, “tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive.”

The spokeswoman said she was given a course of Pfizer-made Paxlovid, which is known to cause a rebound of symptoms and positivity—even after testing negative. President Biden had tested negative several weeks ago only to return a positive test and a return of symptoms after he took Paxlovid, forcing him into quarantine for about a week.

“Close contacts of the First Lady have been notified,” Alexander added. “She is currently staying at a private residence in South Carolina and will return home after she receives two consecutive negative COVID tests.”

Like her husband, the first lady is double vaccinated and has received two booster shots. It’s the first time Jill Biden has developed COVID-19, according to Alexander.

The president continues to test negative for the virus, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wrote on Twitter Tuesday. She said that President Biden will follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on close contacts and wear a mask for 10 days when in close proximity to other people or when he is indoors.

“We will also increase the President’s testing cadence and report those results,” Jean-Pierre wrote.

Another top official in the White House, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, tested positive for the virus on Monday for the second time. The 69-year-old will undergo quarantine and “will retain all authorities and plan

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