Joe Biden and Jill Biden.
(Image credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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.

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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.

Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.