Dr. Michael Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He also served on Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board between Biden’s election as president and the inauguration.
Osterholm previously supported sending children back to school. He said the virus was not a major threat to children. Now the situation has changed.
“Please understand that this B.1.1.7 variant is a brand new ball game,” said Osterholm on NBC’s Meet the Press. “It infects children very easily. Contrary to previous strains of the virus, we did not see that children under 8th grade became infected often or that they were not often very ill, they were not passed on to the rest of the community.”
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The B.1.1.7 variant was first identified in the United Kingdom. It is now tearing through parts of the country.
In Minnesota, Osterholm said more than 740 schools reported cases of the variant. In Michigan, more young people are entering hospitals battling more severe symptoms than before in children with COVID-19.
This is similar to what health officials in other countries have seen.
The British Medical Journal wrote two months ago that “emerging evidence from Israel and Italy (shows) that more young children are being infected with new variants of COVID-19.”
When Osterholm saw this happening in his own backyard, he now questions his own previous advice.
“Everywhere you look where you see this coming up, you see that children are playing a big role in the transmission of this,” said Osterholm. “All the things we had planned for kids in schools with this virus really no longer apply. We need to look at this issue from a whole new perspective.”
Vaccinations are expected to help control the B.1.1.7 variant. However, Osterholm said there simply isn’t enough time to rely on vaccinations alone.
“We won’t have nearly enough (vaccine doses) in the next 6 to 8 weeks to get through this wave, and we’ll have to look at other avenues to do that, just like any other country in the world that has a B.1.1. 7 peak. “
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More young people infected, hospitalized
The difference between earlier peaks and another possible rise now is “the people most affected now are the younger individuals,” emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen on Sunday on CNN.
Older populations have received national priority for Covid-19 vaccinations. According to the CDC, more than 54% of Americans 65 and older have been fully vaccinated, while more than 75% of that same age group have received at least one dose of Covid-19.
But while that age group is now relatively well protected, Wen said, younger groups are still vulnerable as the B.1.1.7 variant is circulating. The variant is more contagious and can cause more serious illness, experts have said. Research suggests it may also be more deadly.
“We see in places like Michigan that the people who are now hospitalized in large numbers are in their thirties and forties,” said Wen. “And now we are even seeing children getting infected in greater numbers.”
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It’s not just Michigan.
“What we’re seeing are outbreaks across the country, especially in younger people who haven’t been vaccinated, as well as in school-aged children,” said former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“For example, if you look at what is happening in Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, you see outbreaks in schools and infections in social groups that have not been exposed to the virus before.”
“The infection is changing its outline in terms of who is currently affected,” he added.
In Orange County, Florida, officials reported an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the 18-25 age group late last month.
And a third of all Covid-19 hospital admissions in the county were people under the age of 45, according to Dr. Raul Pino, director of the Florida Department of Health in Orange County.
Officials in New Jersey said last week that variants, including the B.1.1.7 strain, contributed to an increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations – including in younger age groups.
Between the first and last weeks of March, there was a 31% and 48% increase in hospital admissions among age groups 20-29 and 40-49, respectively, state health commissioner Judy Persichilli said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, older residents saw only single-digit percentage increases, she added.
How we can curb a new wave of infections
Despite alarming warning signs, the US is not powerless, experts emphasize.
Duplicating security measures – masking, socializing, avoiding crowds – coupled with fast and efficient vaccinations could help curb another Covid-19 wave, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Saturday.
“We say it over and over and we need the locals, we need the governors and the mayors and others to be able to say we’re not out yet,” Fauci said.
“People say, ‘Well, you just want to lock us up forever.’ No, this won’t last forever, because every day you get four million, three million people vaccinated, you’re getting closer and closer to control. ”
Hotez estimated on Sunday that Americans will have to “hold out for another four to six weeks, and then we’ll be on the other side.”
“All vaccines seem to work equally well against this British, B.1.1.7 variant … so that’s really good news,” he said. “I am very confident that we will be in a very good place by the summer.”
“But if you are not vaccinated you have to act like you are very vulnerable to this virus, this is no time to get sick,” added Hotez.
The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company, contributed to this report.
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