WASHINGTON — Jill Biden, the first lady, tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday evening and is quarantining at a private home in South Carolina, where she and President Biden had been vacationing for the past several days, her office announced on Tuesday.
Dr. Biden is experiencing mild symptoms, Elizabeth Alexander, her communications director, said in a statement. The first lady has been prescribed Paxlovid, an antiviral medication that reduces the effects of the infection, and will not return to the White House until she receives two consecutive negative tests, Ms. Alexander said.
“The first lady began to develop coldlike symptoms late in the evening,” Ms. Alexander said in the statement. “She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a P.C.R. test came back positive. The first lady is double vaccinated, twice boosted and only experiencing mild symptoms.”
A statement sent to reporters said that Mr. Biden tested negative Tuesday morning and planned to return to the White House to sign the climate and tax bill in the afternoon. It is not clear whether the president will continue to Wilmington, Del., for the rest of the week as planned.
“Consistent with C.D.C. guidance because he is a close contact of the first lady, he will mask for 10 days when indoors and in close proximity to others,” the White House statement said. “We will also increase the president’s testing cadence and report those results.”
