Credit: Office of the Governor, YouTube
After weeks of infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm warning Americans of the “ darkest days ” of the pandemic to come, Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Education announced new guidelines on Wednesday encouraging schools to get as many students back as possible. the classroom for personal instruction.
Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease and Research Policy at the University of Minnesota, who was a member of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisory panel prior to his inauguration, has raised the alarm over what he believes was a major increase in illness will be in the next 14 weeks.
Osterholm’s Monday performance at CBS this morning concentrated almost entirely on the threat of the B.1.1.7. variant that led to strict lockdowns in the United Kingdom
“I think the next 14 weeks will be the worst pandemic. People don’t want to hear that,” said Osterholm. “But if we look at what these variants are doing, especially this one from the UK, and see what it did in Europe, see what it did in the Middle East, that’s where it’s starting now in the United States. are going to see that unfold. ”
Osterholm anticipates “very dark days” in late March, even predicting that schools currently bringing children back for personal instruction will have a hard time staying personal when the wave arrives.
“I have a lot of respect for Dr. Osterholm and he helped us a lot in understanding,” Walz began when asked about Osterholm’s prediction. “That’s not the CDC’s position. It’s not the models we’re using, IMHE, Mayo … we don’t necessarily see that. He’s not wrong that the variants pose a potential threat.”
Walz said the Minnesota numbers do not currently warrant that schools remain in the distance learning mode, and while he admitted “we’re not out of the woods yet,” the situation in the state right now is such that “we” are. able to take this step that reduces the risk to as close to zero as possible. “
Monday, there were fewer than 54,000 cases and 989 deaths across the country, the lowest total since October and November, respectively. In Minnesota, the numbers have remained at much lower levels than during the October-November peak, with the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 at more than 1,800.
The Minnesota spike during the fall put a lot of strain on the state’s hospital capacity, forcing some patients to move through state hospitals due to a limited supply of open beds and staff available to treat patients.
The Minnesota Department of Health was also concerned about variants
“We are concerned that we may see the B117 variant (the British variant) becoming more common or even dominant in Minnesota and that this could lead to an increase in the number of cases. So we are monitoring the situation closely through our laboratory. and epidemiological work, ”an MDH spokesperson told BMTN Tuesday.
However, we have two weapons against this threat: our continued use of preventative measures such as wearing masks and physical distance and the ongoing rollout of vaccines. It is so important for all of us to use these tools to do our part to maintain the virus, regardless of which strain, is kept in check. “
Osterholm is not the only one who thinks the virus will increase sharply in the coming weeks.
“We are now on a hiatus as the cases are ending. These new variants are more contagious,” says Dr. David Agus, professor of medicine and engineering at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. CBS this morning on Tuesday. “We will have an increase in the number of cases of these variants in the coming weeks and it is certainly frightening the distress they can cause.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert, has also said that the B.1.1.7. variant could become the dominant species in America in late March.