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.

On an episode of 60 minutes that aired on September 18th, President Joe Biden told

interviewer Scott Pelley that for the US, the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

We still have a problem with COVID.

We're still doing a lot of work on it, but the pandemic is over.

Biden said.

The immediate pushback on that comment and the attempts by the Biden administration to clarify

the president's message speaks to the contradictory nature of the current moment.

The president, according to members of his administration, was simply reflecting what many

Americans are feeling as they learn to live with the virus.

And if you spend any time in public, President Biden's comment doesn't seem off the mark.

People are behaving as if the pandemic is over.

But for many, the 400-plus COVID deaths occurring every day are an undeniable reminder that

the pandemic is not anywhere near over.

And even though BA5 remains the dominant variant, the variant picture remains unsettled,

...