Osterholm said Americans are not realistic in light of this new peak, which he says is driven by a Covid variant.
“We are the only country in the world that is currently experiencing this increasing number of cases due to this variant and at the same time opening and not closing,” he told Chris Wallace. “The two are basically going to clash and we will significantly increase the number of cases.”
He said he realized his message was not what people wanted to hear right now.
‘I understand the absolute resistance in this country, even to consider it, and you know – it’s kind of trying to drink barbed wire – but the crux of the virus’ message is that it’s going to do what it’s going to do , and we’re going to have to react in some way, ‘Osterholm said, adding that it could involve’ withdrawing from some of the constraints we have loosened. ‘
The largest recent increase in cases was in the Upper Midwest. “If I thought someone in Michigan thought they would see 8,400 new cases like them on Saturday, no one would have believed it a month ago,” Osterholm said.
Osterholm noted that the new variant hit children harder than the previous strains of the virus. “Here in Minnesota, we now see the other aspect of this B.1.1.7 variant that hasn’t been talked about much yet, and that’s the fact that it infects children very easily,” he said on NBC’s “Meet.” the press. ”
According to Johns Hopkins University, the United States has had more than 30 million Covid cases and more than 554,000 deaths.
Osterholm added: “Nobody wants to be the person who has to die three days before they were supposed to get their Covid shot.”