We never really picked a point to say, ‘This is when we will or will not open up.’ —Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH
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June 2021
Dr. Osterholm marveled at how the rates of respiratory illnesses have plummeted in ways not explained by the mitigation measures intended to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. “In countries where there has been no effort toward mitigation, they’ll tell you they’re seeing an absolute absence of viral respiratory pathogens across all ages, and particularly in kids,” he said. “Mother Nature is doing something here that we just don’t understand.”
The bottom line, he said, is that the pandemic is still here.
“I think that this virus is telling us that it’s far from done with us,” he said, “and we’ll have to see what happens over the months ahead.”
Thomas R. Collins is a freelance medical writer based in Florida.