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 are now into our third summer of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And while we continue to see the type of ebb and flow of cases that we've by now gotten

used to, figuring out what comes next with this virus remains tricky.

Globally, new COVID-19 cases appear to be declining, and nationally the wave that began

in April appears to be slowing.

But with new and more transmissible Omicron variants gaining a foothold in the US and other

countries, we all know that it could change in a matter of weeks.

That will be the focus of our discussion on this June 9th episode of the podcast, as

we assess the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and around the world, and discuss

what the future may hold.

We'll also discuss an FDA advisory group's recommendation to authorize another COVID-19

vaccine and how that might impact the vaccination effort, talk about the latest data on Pax-Levit

rebound cases, and answer a COVID query about the original version of the coronavirus.

We'll also provide you with an update on monkeypox and share a celebration of life from one

...