President Biden may be face of COVID-19′s future

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - President Joe Biden has COVID but said he “feels fine.”

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, in announcing his illness said, “you know everyone at some point, everyone is going to get COVID.”

Probably a bit of an overstatement, but still not far off.

“I’ve said this before, from this podium, we have an incredibly contagious variant,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the COVID response coordinator at the presser Thursday.

That variant is the BA.5 and it is highly transmissible.

“The good news is his immune system is very well protected given the four vaccine shots he’s gotten,” said Jha. “He’s getting treatment, he’s got mild symptoms, he’s feeling fine.”

There are some who feel that Biden may be the face of COVID-19 in the future.

“The good news is it won’t be as bad as it was in those two awful years of 2020, 2021,” said University of Arizona Health Director Dr. Joe Gerald. “The bad news is it’s going to be worse than it was before COVID.”

COVID won’t be as severe as it has been in the past but it’s something we’re going to have to deal with in the future.

“In another year or two from now, I think the situation will be even better, infections will have even fewer consequences, and will allow COVID to fade into the background,” Gerald said.

It doesn’t mean COVID will go away but it means people will start to live their lives, for the most part, as they did before.

“The good news is they’re not going to experience hospitalizations and death, some will, but the vast majority will not and that’s a step ahead,” Gerald said. “It’s going to allow us to normalize our behaviors.”

It doesn’t mean COVID will become benign immediately but will likely be less and less virulent in the future.

As with the flu and other viruses, some people who are compromised will still need hospitalization or face death, but those cases will be fewer in the future.

Even for someone who’s 79 years old.

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