Jill Biden tests positive for COVID-19

First lady Jill Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, her spokesperson revealed Tuesday.

"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," said communications director Elizabeth Alexander in a statement. "She tested negative again on a rapid antigen test, but a PCR test came back positive."

The first lady, 71, is double vaccinated and double boosted, and is taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid, CNN reports. This is her first time contracting the coronavirus.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Mrs. Biden is "feeling good," a source close to the first lady told CNN, and is experiencing "common cold-like symptoms." She will stay in Kiawah Island, South Carolina — where she was vacationing with her husband, President Biden, and their family — until she receives "two consecutive negative COVID tests," Alexander said.

President Biden, who only recently recovered from back-to-back rounds of the virus, has continued to test negative. He will follow the appropriate Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance as a close contact of his wife's, and will undergo increased testing as a result, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter, per CNN.