Dr. Anthony Fauci Tests Positive for Coronavirus

WASHINGTON — Maybe it was solely a matter of time.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s high medical adviser for the coronavirus pandemic, has examined constructive for the virus and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases stated on Wednesday.

Dr. Fauci, the institute’s director, was constructive on a fast antigen take a look at, the company said in a statement. It added that he was absolutely vaccinated towards the virus and had been boosted twice. He is taking Paxlovid, the Pfizer antiviral remedy licensed by the Food and Drug Administration for therapy of Covid-19, an company spokeswoman stated.

News that Dr. Fauci, one of many world’s foremost infectious illness specialists and a family identify due to the pandemic, had fallen sufferer to the coronavirus reverberated throughout Washington and the nation. The constructive take a look at was the primary for Dr. Fauci, who’s 81.

But with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that greater than half of Americans have contracted Covid-19, he’s hardly the one big-name sufferer. Xavier Becerra, the secretary of well being and human providers, examined constructive on Monday for the second time in lower than a month. Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, who’s 83, introduced on Tuesday that she had examined constructive; she had additionally executed so in April.

Dr. Fauci has not been in shut contact with Mr. Biden or different senior authorities officers not too long ago and can “isolate and continue to work from his home,” the assertion from his institute stated. He will return to his workplace as soon as he checks destructive.

But he had been making public appearances. The AIDS Clinical Trials Group — a community of tons of of researchers conducting research to enhance therapy of H.I.V. and associated infections — is assembly in Washington this week, and Dr. Fauci, whose laboratory work has been targeted on H.I.V./AIDS, addressed the group in particular person on Tuesday.

Along with different high federal well being officers, Dr. Fauci was anticipated to testify on Thursday earlier than the Senate well being committee on the state of the pandemic. An official stated that Dr. Fauci’s institute was working with committee workers members to rearrange for a distant look.

While a lot of the nation seems to be attempting to maneuver on, the coronavirus stays a pervasive menace. According to a New York Times database, greater than 100,000 new instances are nonetheless being recognized every day within the United States — a determine that has stayed roughly flat throughout June. Many specialists believe the number is an undercount as a result of so many individuals are taking at-home checks whose outcomes should not recorded with public well being authorities.

While instances are declining within the Northeast and the Midwest, instances and hospitalizations are surging within the West and the South. Reports of deaths, nevertheless, stay low. Fewer than 350 deaths are being reported every day, The Times’s database exhibits, down from greater than 2,600 a day on the peak of the Omicron surge.

Dr. Fauci has spent half a century in authorities and has suggested seven presidents, starting with Ronald Reagan, on epidemic and pandemic threats.

But the coronavirus pandemic turned Dr. Fauci into a political lightning rod. His public urging of well being precautions like mask-wearing and social distancing made him a frequent goal of critics who questioned or opposed such measures.

Perhaps greater than anybody, he is aware of how infectious the coronavirus is. This spring, he determined towards attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — a gathering of distinguished political and information media figures that featured an look by the president — “because of my individual assessment of my personal risk,” he said then. At the time, Dr. Fauci was getting ready for different public engagements, together with graduation speeches at Princeton and the University of Michigan.

The correspondents’ dinner, which drew greater than 2,000 company to a packed lodge ballroom, ended up spreading the virus amongst many journalists and different attendees.

“It’s a matter of time before we all get infected, honestly; this virus has become so transmissible,” Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious illness specialist at Emory University, stated on Wednesday. “What I tell people is that at some point in time you will encounter this virus, because we are doing more things and getting together. And if you are going to encounter the virus, you’d better be vaccinated and boosted.”