Osterholm on fourth wave COVID-19, reopening of schools and vaccine safety

The delta variant of COVID-19 continues to race across the country, and in northeastern and northwestern Minnesota, hospitals are warning that the growing number of COVID patients could exceed their capacity.

Meanwhile, pediatric health care experts fear that opening schools for in-person learning this fall will lead to further spread of the coronavirus, especially since some school districts do not require masks.

Where do we go next in the COVID-19 pandemic? Dr Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the current spike in delta cases could continue into October or beyond.

Osterholm told host Cathy Wurzer that this pandemic wave in the United States is made up of a series of regional outbreaks, which support the length of the wave.

And the return to in-person learning is likely to lead to even more infections, Osterholm warned: “I have no doubt we’re going to have a whole slew of outbreaks in school,” he said. . “The situation we have with school children this year is very different from last year. This delta variant has fundamentally changed everything in terms of transmission.

A year ago, SARS-CoV-2 “was not well transmitted between children,” Osterholm explained, but now, “children are now just as likely to be infected as adults, and they are. just as likely to transmit it. “

“No one wants our children to have to be educated at a distance,… but the safety of the children must be the top priority,” Osterholm said, stressing that school guidelines prior to the emergence of the delta variant need to be updated. .

Osterholm recommended universal masking with N95 or KN95 masks in schools; vaccinations for all eligible students, staff and families; better air ventilation in classrooms with HEPA filters; and at least six feet of social distance between students.

Osterholm strongly reiterated the importance and safety of the COVID-19 vaccination, refuting the claim by Minnesota State Senator Jim Abeler that more than 200 Minnesotans have died after receiving the vaccines against the COVID-19, which he did at an anti-mask rally on Saturday.

“The senator is wrong, and he knows it. It’s just not true, ”Osterholm said.

According to Osterholm, Abeler’s claim is an “abuse” of data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a national effort to detect potential vaccine safety issues.

Any adverse health effects following vaccination, even if ultimately unrelated, can be reported to VAERS for further investigation. Osterholm said Abeler poorly characterized deaths in the system unrelated to vaccines.

“I can safely say at this point in Minnesota, no one has died from the COVID vaccine. Nobody, ”Osterholm said. “These vaccines are safer than aspirin.”

Osterholm expressed optimism that the breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in vaccinated people will become less common as researchers learn how to administer the new vaccines more effectively.

For example, after further research on COVID-19 vaccines, “Now what we’re realizing is that it’s likely to be a three-dose regimen,” Osterholm said.

Osterholm reminded listeners that the vast majority of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are not vaccinated.

“Vaccines remain the number one, two, three, four and five tool to stop this pandemic,” Osterholm said.

Use the audio player above to listen to the entire conversation.