Episode 145: The Hospital Capacity Crisis

Osterholm Update

CIDRAP

Science

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In "The Hospital Capacity Crisis," Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the state of the pandemic in the U.S. and around the world, the reclassification of the BA.2.86 variant as a variant of interest, and the surge in pediatric pneumonia hospitalizations in China. Dr. Osterholm also provides an update on influenza and RSV in the U.S. and shares a moment of joy from one of our listeners.

Update on SARS-CoV-2 Variant BA.2.86 Being Tracked by CDC
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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Osterholm update, a podcast on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases with Dr Michael Osterholm.
0:15.0	Dr Ostrom is an internationally recognized medical detective and director of the Center for
0:20.3	Infectious Disease Research and Policy or or Sidrapp at the University of Minnesota.
0:25.2	In this podcast, Dr. Ostrom draws on nearly 50 years of experience investigating
0:29.6	infectious disease outbreaks to provide straight talk on the latest infectious disease
0:33.7	and public health threats.
0:36.0	I'm Chris Dahl, reporter for Sidrapp News,
0:38.5	and I'm your host for these conversations.
0:44.0	Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Ostrom Update Podcast.
0:48.0	On November 21st, the online reporting system for the International Society for Infectious Diseases, known as ProMed Mail,
0:55.6	flagged Chinese media reports about pediatric hospitals in Beijing and other cities in Northern China
1:01.0	that were filled with children with a respiratory illness
1:03.4	marked by fever. The reports quickly raised fears because they were eerily
1:07.8	similar to the reports of a mysterious pneumonia in Wuhan in late 2019.
1:13.0	Within days, Chinese health officials present to the World Health Organization on request
1:18.0	with surveillance data indicating that the surge in pediatric respiratory illnesses was being caused not by an unknown or novel
1:24.2	pathogen, but by an outbreak of pneumonia caused by the bacterium mycoplasma pneumonia,
1:29.9	as well as an uptick in flu, adenovirus, and respiratory
1:33.3	sensual virus, or RSV. The WHO said the increase in these
1:37.8	illnesses are not unexpected given the lifting of COVID-19
1:40.9	restrictions in China. The response to this story, particularly the images of the living with as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.
1:53.7	But it also might tell us something about how prepared we are for the next pandemic.
	...

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