Infectious diseases expert: U.S. is "at the beginning" of a fourth COVID-19 surge
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, warned on Sunday that the U.S. is at the precipice of a fourth surge of the coronavirus.
Why it matters: Data shows the U.S. may be at the start of a fourth wave that would foster the growth of new variants, which would likely be less susceptible to existing vaccines. A fourth surge would almost certainly be less deadly than the previous three, thanks to widespread vaccination of the elderly.
Driving the news: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky went off-script at a briefing last week and made an emotional plea to Americans not to let up on public health measures amid fears of a fourth wave.
- “I'm going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom," Walensky said, appearing to hold back tears.
- "We do not have the luxury of inaction. For the health of our country, we must work together now to prevent a fourth surge."
What he's saying: "We're now, I think in that cycle where the upper Midwest is just now beginning to start this fourth surge. And I think it was a wake-up call to everyone yesterday when Michigan reported out 8,400 new cases," Osterholm said on Sunday.
- "And we're now seeing an increasing number of severe illnesses, ICU and hospitalizations, in individuals who are between 30 and 50 years of age who have not been vaccinated."
- "We're just at the beginning of this surge. We haven't even really begun to see it yet," he said.
But, but, but: "I think with the rate of vaccination that we're having right now ... I think that there's enough immunity in the population that you're not going to see a true fourth wave of infection," Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner, said on Sunday's "Face the Nation."
- The U.S. vaccinated an average of 3 million people per day over the last week, per Bloomberg's tracker.
Go deeper: The fourth wave is here
