Washington – Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser and a leading official in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, has tested positive for COVID-19, the National Institutes of Health said.
The NIH said in a statement that Fauci, 81, is fully vaccinated and has been reinforced twice. He is experiencing mild symptoms and has not been in close contact with President Biden or other senior government officials recently, the agency said.
Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, received a positive result in a rapid antigen test and will return to work at the NIH when it is negative, the agency said. .
Fauci has been a key, and sometimes polarizing, figure in the nation’s efforts to fight the pandemic since its inception in early 2020, advising both former President Donald Trump and President Biden on the federal response. He managed to avoid contracting COVID-19 so far, more than two years after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic.
Fauci became a household name throughout the pandemic, frequently appearing alongside Trump during face-to-face briefings at the White House in the early days of the public health emergency and on online briefings conducted by the Mr Biden’s COVID-19 response team after taking over the presidency. .
During appearances on Capitol Hill, Fauci often discussed with Republican senators about mitigation efforts, including requirements to wear masks and evidence.
His high public profile provoked threats and harassment against him and his family, he told a Senate panel in January. In late 2020, a California man was arrested after Iowa police allegedly found weapons and an apparent hit list, named Fauci, in his car. A West Virginia man also pleaded guilty last month to sending threatening emails to Fauci and former NIH director Dr. Francis Collins.
Fauci now joins a long line of federal officials who, while vaccinated and reinforced, tested positive for COVID-19, including Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several members of the cabinet. Biden.
In January, he predicted that the highly contagious variant of Omicron “will eventually find almost everyone,” but noted that vaccinated and reinforced Americans will do “reasonably well,” as injections protect against hospitalization and death. .
Fauci was scheduled to appear with other senior federal health officials before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Work and Pensions on Thursday to provide an update on the federal response to COVID-19.
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