Fauci Is Now Experiencing 'Rebound' COVID

Update: Count Anthony Fauci among the victims of so-called "rebound" COVID. The 81-year-old doctor initially experienced "minimal" symptoms when he was infected with the coronavirus, but when they started getting worse, he was prescribed Paxlovid due to his age, the Hill reports. After the five-day course of the antiviral drug, Fauci tested negative for three days, but tested positive again on day four. He said, while speaking during a global health summit Tuesday, his symptoms at the beginning of the rebound were "much worse than the first go-around," and he ended up taking Paxlovid again. By Tuesday (day four of the second five-day course, per ABC News), he said he felt "reasonably good." Fauci tells the New York Times Paxlovid "did what it was supposed to do" by keeping the most severe symptoms at bay. Our original story from June 15 follows:

After more than two years of fighting the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci is now fighting a coronavirus infection—though since he is, of course, fully vaccinated against COVID-19, he's probably not in serious danger. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease said Wednesday that Fauci—the institute's director and President Biden's chief medical adviser—had tested positive on a rapid antigen test and is showing mild symptoms, CNN reports. The institute said Fauci, 81, is fully vaccinated and has received two boosters.

"Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from his home," the institute said in a statement. "He has not recently been in close contact with President Biden or other senior government officials." The institute said Fauci will follow CDC guidelines and not return to work until he tests negative. Fauci said last month that he hasn't taken a day off since COVID reached the US.

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Earlier this year, Fauci told J. Stephen Morrison at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the highly infectious omicron variant would "ultimately find just about everybody," NBC notes. He has however, remained cautious in recent months. In April, he said he was skipping the White House Correspodents' Associaton dinner because of his "individual assessment of my personal risk." (More Anthony Fauci stories.)