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.

We're now well into our third autumn of the pandemic, and while we still have a few months

to see whether colder weather, holiday gatherings, and new SARS-CoV-2 variants will bring a significant

wave of COVID-19 cases, the early returns are hopeful.

A surge that appeared to be building across Europe a month ago now appears to have tapered

off, and US COVID cases and hospitalizations are holding steady.

At the same time, influenza and respiratory secisital virus, or RSV, cases in the US are

spiking, and emergency departments are filling up across the country.

And a surge in COVID cases, if it does come, will put even more strain in our hospitals.

On this November 10th episode of the podcast, we're going to discuss some of the positive

signs that we're seeing in the current trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how a surge

in other respiratory viruses could complicate matters.

We'll also discuss the variant situation, look at a recent study on Pax-Lovid in Long

COVID, examine the latest efficacy data on the COVID-19 booster shots, and answer COVID

query about how to protect yourself and loved ones at holiday gatherings.

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