US first lady Jill Biden tests positive for Covid-19, has ‘mild’ symptoms
- The White House confirmed she was experiencing symptoms while on holiday in South Carolina with President Joe Biden, who has tested negative
- She has been prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid and will isolate at the family’s holiday home for at least five days
United States first lady Jill Biden has testified positive for Covid-19, her communications director Elizabeth Alexander said on Tuesday.
The White House confirmed the 71-year-old was experiencing ‘mild’ symptoms just over a week after President Joe Biden recovered from his own infection.
The couple had been on holiday in South Carolina when she began experiencing symptoms on Monday evening. She has been prescribed the antiviral drug Paxlovid and will isolate at the holiday home for at least five days.
Joe Biden tested negative for the virus on Tuesday morning, the White House said, but would be wearing a mask indoors for 10 days in line with guidance from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The first lady had tested negative for the virus on Monday during her regular testing sessions, before developing symptoms. She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive, Elizabeth Alexander said.