(WXYZ) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday morning.
So many of my patients Thursday have been asking if I am surprised since Biden is double-boosted. Here’s what I’ve been saying: Our president is a very busy man.
While we don’t know where he picked up the virus, he was recently overseas and met many world leaders. He’s also been having meetings and hosting events at the White House. So, when you combine a busy schedule with an extremely contagious variant like omicron’s BA.5, the chance of getting infected does go up.
Biden had his first booster in September and his second booster shot on March 30. But just because a person is double-boosted doesn’t mean you won’t get infected. Our vaccines are not bulletproof. And the boost we get begins to wane within a month or two, which makes a person more vulnerable to infection.
On top of that, BA.5 has three key mutations in its spike protein. These mutations help the virus infect our cells a little easier than precious variants. Plus, BA.5 can sneak past the body’s defenses as it’s more immune-evading as well.
His age is a concern. It’s a fact that COVID-19 has taken a toll on our older generation. If we look at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data, it shows that 26% of COVID-19 deaths are seniors between 75 to 84 years of age.
That could be because older people often have health issues like heart conditions, chronic liver, kidney or lung disease. These are a few of the conditions that places a person at higher risk of getting very sick with COVID-19, according to the CDC.
Now, Biden has a few health conditions like atrial fibrillation, acid reflux, seasonal allergies and high cholesterol. So, he should be monitored carefully. But the good news is that his conditions are being managed by medications. And he’s also, as I mentioned, double-boosted. Being double-boosted will help protect him from severe illness, hospitalization and death.
On top of that, I’m happy to report that he’s taking paxolivd. It’s an antiviral drug that can minimize the severity of COVID-19 if taken within five days of symptoms starting.
In my opinion, Biden getting infected is a stark reminder that the virus is not gone and anyone can get infected. The best protection against severe disease and death is to be up to date on COVID-19 vaccines as the additional booster helps the body’s immune system fight the virus.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
