Jill Biden missed the first day of school on Tuesday after testing positive for COVID on Monday night while President Joe Biden remains negative for the disease.
The first lady, who teaches English at the Northern Virginia Community College, is arranging a substitue for her classes.
‘She’s working with NOVA to ensure her classes are covered by a substitute,’ her office said.
The president, meanwhile, tested negative both Monday night and Tuesday morning.
He is wearing a face mask when he is around other people.
Jill Biden ‘is experiencing mild symptoms and will remain in Delaware for the week. President Biden tested negative last night for COVID-19 and tested negative again today. He’s not experiencing any symptoms,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden remains negative for COVID while Jill Biden missed the first day of school after testing positive
‘He will be masking while indoors and around people in alignment with CDC guidance and as as has been the practice in the past. The President will remove his mask when sufficiently distance from others indoors and while outside as well,’ she noted.
‘There are currently no updates to the White House COVID-19 protocols,’ she noted.
The East Wing announced Monday night that Jill Biden had tested positive for COVID and would remain in Rehoboth Beach, where she had spent the Labor Day weekend with President Joe Biden at their vacation home.
COVID cases are on the rise thoughout the country.
The first lady, 72, usually teaches classes on Tuesday and Thursday.
Jill Biden also was scheduled to attend a dinner on Tuesday night for U.S. athletes competing at the Invictus Games, the games for wound warriors founded by Prince Harry.
She had to cancel that appearance.
President Biden remains negative despite the close contact with his wife.
The couple spent Sunday night together at their Rehoboth Beach home before Joe flew to Philadelphia Monday to mark Labor Day with a speech to union workers.
The First Lady had accompanied the president Saturday to Florida to survey hurricane damage and then they headed to their Delaware beach home.
In a statement released Monday, Jill’s spokesman Elizabeth Alexander said: ‘This evening, the First Lady tested positive for COVID-19.
‘She is currently experiencing only mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware,’ Alexander said.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: ‘Following the First Lady’s positive test for COVID-19, President Biden was administered a COVID test this evening. The President tested negative.’
Dr. Biden previously had COVID last August and got stuck at the property the couple had vacationed at on Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
Jill Biden visiting a school in Wisconsin last week
Biden waves as he walks on the South Lawn after returning to the White House on Monday
She was prescribed the antiviral Paxlovid and tested positive with a rebound case of COVID several days later.
President Biden tested positive for COVID last July. He also was treated with Paxlovid and suffered a rebound case days later.
Both the president and first lady are vaccinated and boosted.
The president is expected to leave Thursday for the G20 summit in New Delhi, India.
The first lady was not expected to attend. ‘The President will test at a regular cadence this week and monitor for symptoms,’ Jean-Pierre said.
While COVID cases are on the rise, neither the president nor the first lady have worn a mask in public recently.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently turned heads by conceding that data was lacking on whether masks stopped the spread of the virus.
‘When you’re talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data are less strong,’ Fauci recently said on CNN. ‘But there are other studies, that show at an individual level, for individuals, they might be protective.’