President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend, just days after testing negative and resuming a regular schedule of in-person meetings. It’s a classic case of “rebound Covid,” something thousands of Americans have experienced after taking a course of the antiviral drug Paxlovid, as Biden had.
How risky is rebound Covid to Biden and others who take Paxlovid? Not terribly, according to Vox senior health reporter Keren Landman. For people at high risk of severe Covid disease or death, the risk of a bad outcome is greatly reduced by the treatment.
The real problem with rebound Covid is the risk of infecting others who come in contact with an individual who has gone back out into the world after a negative test. Biden, for example, had Cabinet members and staff with him for meetings at the White House and spoke to reporters indoors on Thursday, between his negative and positive tests. The White House doctor said Saturday that Biden had no reemergence of symptoms, and the White House said that no one who had been in close contact with Biden had tested positive.
Landman explained more about Paxlovid rebound Covid last month on an episode of Today, Explained.
Here’s Keren:
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Sourse: vox.com