Hello and welcome to the Ostrome Update COVID-19, a podcast on the COVID-19 pandemic with

Dr. Michael Ostrome.

Dr. Ostrome is an internationally recognized medical detective and director of the Center

for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CITRAP, at the University of Minnesota.

In this podcast, Dr. Ostrome will draw on more than 45 years of experience investigating

infectious disease outbreaks to provide straight talk on the COVID-19 pandemic.

I'm Chris Dahl, reporter for CITRAP News, and I'm your host for these conversations.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Ostrome Update Podcast.

In this third autumn of the COVID-19 pandemic, with cases continuing to decline in the United

States but now rising again in Europe and other parts of the world, the operative word

of the day is uncertainty.

Will one of the many new SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating around the world challenge the

dominance of BA-5 and usher in a new wave of infections?

Will the updated booster shots provide enough protection to keep COVID manageable?

Will enough people be convinced to get the booster shot?

Is our healthcare system prepared for what could be another tough winter?

But with all the uncertainty, one thing that remains certain is the profound social disruption

that this pandemic continues to cause.

As much as COVID-19 has challenged our public health and healthcare systems, it is also

strained and in some cases broken, the bonds that hold communities, friends, and families

together.

And repairing those bonds may be the biggest challenge we face in coming years.

...