First lady Jill Biden will attend the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to lead the U.S. delegation, her office announced Tuesday. There had been questions as to whether she would attend after Japan declared a state of emergency to curb a wave of new COVID-19 infections and banned spectators from attending events.

"First Lady Jill Biden will travel to the Opening Ceremony of the 2021 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan. The Opening Ceremony of the 2021 Olympic Summer Games will be held on July 23, 2021. Additional information and details to come," read a statement from the first lady's office.

President Joe Biden will not attend the Games. Both Joe and Jill Biden attended the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

President Biden has expressed confidence that Tokyo will adhere to proper public health measures.

"The president supports the Tokyo Olympic Games and the public health measures necessary to protect athletes, staff, and spectators. He has pride in the U.S. athletes who have trained for Tokyo Games and will be competing in the best traditions of the Olympic spirit," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci neither endorsed nor discouraged Jill Biden's decision to attend the Olympics. He noted that "stringent" measures were put in place to ensure her safety and called Japan's protocols “quite impressive."

"That's going to be up to the first lady. I believe that there's no reason right now given the situation -- the protocol to protect her health, I think, will be also rather stringent, so I don't have a concern about that. But the final choice of what she'd do, obviously, is up to her," he said.

Coronavirus