If US elections in the run-up to the 2024 presidential poll were a Hollywood movie, there would be many plot twists and upsets. The most recent development is that President Joe Biden is isolating at home and has Covid.
Biden’s physician claims his symptoms are mild, including a runny nose, cough, and general unwellness. His temperature, air degrees and breathing level are said to be normal.
Biden, who has had Covid thrice before, has received his Covid vaccine, booster shots, and second dose of the viral medication Paxlovid.
No doubt, Biden may be receiving the best of health treatment. However, because many new internet coverage reminds us, he is 81 centuries old.
But let’s look at what it means for an 81-year-old man to possess Covid in 2024. Of course, Biden is not just any person, but we’ll come to that later.
Surprisingly, it’s not 2020
A Covid treatment at this age would have been a great deal if we had been up in 2020.
This was before Covid vaccines, before certain Covid treatments, and before we were as well-versed in the drug as we are today. Back then, being over 80 and being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus ( the virus that causes Covid ) represented a significant threat to your health.
Earlier in the pandemic, it became abundantly clear that getting a serious illness and passing out increased with age. The early data suggested that if you were over 80 and infected, you had about a 15 % likelihood of dying from the disease.
Also, if you did develop severe disease, we did n’t have a lot in the toolkit to deal with your infection.
Remember that, despite being 55 at the time, past UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson died in the ICU from a Covid infections in April 2020. That’s a much younger age than Biden is today.
Donald Trump, the former US president, even experienced what is thought to be a very severe case of Covid in October 2020. He was 74 at the time.
How things have changed
But this storm the clocks forward to 2024. In four decades, there has been a bit.
Covid is still a condition that needs to be treated significantly. And for some individuals with other health problems ( for example, people with heart disease or diabetes ) it poses more of a risk. And of course, we are more aware of the well-known, long-term consequences of Covid.
However, today’s risk from Covid is much less severe than it was in the past.
More of us have some resistance
Second, most people have some resistance to Covid then, whether this has come from vaccination or previous infections or, for some, both.
Your immune system’s ability to respond to disease is affected by the fact that it has been exposed to it. Yes, there is a problem with waning immunity over time and the disease changing, so you need to get regular booster shots. But as your defense system has” seen” the disease before, that allows it to listen more efficiently, which means the risk posed by infections has fallen considerably.
We are aware that Biden has had his boost shots. Pods have been shown to provide significant protection against serious illness and death, and they are especially crucial for older age groups.
Now we have immunotherapy
Second, we even have antiviral drugs. If taken immediately after developing symptoms, paxlovid is efficient in reducing the likelihood of severe disease from Covid.
In one study, if taken soon after infection, Paxlovid reduced the likelihood of severe illness or death by 89 %. Therefore, it is highly advised for those who are more likely to have a serious condition. As we know, Biden is taking Paxlovid.
Paxlovid has also been linked to bounce symptoms. This occurs when a person appears to have recovered from an illness only to reappear symptoms. This happened in 2022 for Biden.
The good news is that despite this occurring, the symptoms typically associated with the frequency are mild.
Biden may receive the best attention.
Biden may also benefit from some of the best medical care available, of course.
You can be certain that he will receive the best treatment if his symptoms escalate to a higher level or if any complications grow.
But is Biden’s analysis information? Well, of course, given all the debate about his health. There are no indications that Covid is a big risk to Biden’s health.
At Deakin University, Hassan Vally is an associate professor of epidemiology.
This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original post.