Literally anyone can catch COVID right now: 3 takeaways from Biden's diagnosis

While it may be disconcerting that the almost-80-year-old  leader of the free world has COVID-19, a virus that has killed well over 1 million Americans, President Joe Biden will likely be fine.

Vaccinated, boosted and treated with antiviral medication, with access to the country’s best medical care, Biden will likely feel chills and muscle aches for a few days, but hopefully he will not become severely sick.

That said, as we continue going about our daily lives, we must remember that not everyone who contracts this virus will fare so well. Immunocompromised, elderly and other highly vulnerable people are still dying from it, and the latest subvariant is more contagious than ever.

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There have been so many letters and numbers designating the different types of COVID-19, it can be hard to keep up. The latest important one to remember is BA.5, which is an omicron subvariant. It may be the most infectious yet and has taken over as the predominant strain of infection in the United States.

1. No, you're not fully immune from COVID-19. No one is.

Don’t think that you are protected just because you had COVID-19 before. Infections are on the rise, with numbers greatly underestimated due to home testing. Everyone seems to be getting infected.

The BA.5 subvariant is causing second and even third reinfections. My physician colleague, who was down with COVID-19 three months ago, became ill with BA.5 last week. No one seems to be safe.

The fact that Biden, arguably the most secure man in the world, contracted this virus means anyone can get it.

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This is not the first time a sitting president has contracted the coronavirus. President Donald Trump was hospitalized in 2020 with low oxygen levels, but that was a different time, with different tools to fight the virus, and a different man who underestimated the seriousness of COVID-19 and did not sufficiently value the counsel of his scientists.

2. This is what 'living with the virus' looks like. Behave accordingly.

We are now out of the pandemic phase of COVID-19 and are in a state of “living with the virus.” Indoor social gatherings are now commonplace, and mask mandates have fallen.

While many of us are back to business as usual, please do not forget those who do not have the same luxury. While hospitalizations and deaths have dropped significantly, immunocompromised and vulnerable Americans are still dying every day.

Not just that, as anyone who has recently become infected can tell you, this latest subvariant can really knock even the healthiest people off their feet for many days, making them too tired to function for work or family. And the consequences of developing long-COVID are still not clear.

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Living with the virus means we can't completely let our guard down and accept that everyone will get infected. That attitude won't protect the vulnerable, as waves will likely continue.

In areas where rates of spread are rapid, we should consider putting on masks again, test at home before any big gatherings and isolate for at least five days if those tests are positive.

3. We need updated COVID vaccines

The COVID-19 vaccines have been near miraculous in stemming and preventing severe infections and death, but it is clear that BA.5 is able to bypass this immunity. With the upcoming campaign for booster shots this fall, it is vital that the government and private companies update the vaccines for the latest variants.

Pfizer-BioNTech is already adapting the latest vaccines to fight omicron, showing some activity against even the latest BA.5 strains and demonstrating safety. Moderna is doing so as well. Readiness and expedited government approval by this fall is critical.

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Just as these companies have stepped up to update the vaccines, we must do our part to sign up for the boosters once the campaign is in place. With more than 600 million COVID vaccines given so far, this is not new technology. There is no generalized excuse not to get them now. They are safe and have been effective at preventing severe illness and death.

Biden's COVID diagnosis serves as a bellwether of a truth we are experiencing all around us: BA.5 is circulating and everyone is again at risk. Our past choices as a nation mean COVID-19 will continue to be an annoying housemate that we will live with, but it doesn’t mean we have to again see the mortality and morbidity we saw in 2020 and 2021. Test, isolate, get boosted, mask when necessary and we can put this unwanted housemate to bed.

Dr. Thomas K. Lew, a member of the USA TODAY Board of Contributors, is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an attending physician of Hospital Medicine at Stanford Health Care – ValleyCare. All opinions expressed here are his own. Follow him on Twitter: @ThomasLewMD

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden gets COVID, so can you: Takeaways from the president's diagnosis