Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, has tested positive for Covid-19, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a statement Wednesday.
Fauci, 81, has directed the institute since 1984. He is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots. His positive result came from a rapid test.
"He is currently experiencing mild symptoms," the institute said. "Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from his home. He has not recently been in close contact with President Biden or other senior government officials."
Fauci received one of the first doses of Moderna’s Covid vaccine on camera in December 2020.
He has helped lead the U.S. response to many health crises, including the spread of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. Before his role as Biden’s chief medical adviser, he served as a Covid adviser to then-President Donald Trump.
Earlier this year, Fauci told J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, that the omicron variant would "ultimately find just about everybody."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that around 58% of the U.S. population had been infected with Covid by the end of February. The country is recording 109,000 new Covid cases per day, on average, according to NBC News' tally — a nearly 13% increase from two weeks ago. An average of 370 people are dying from the virus each day.
