Hello and welcome to the Oster Home Update, COVID-19, a weekly podcast on the COVID-19

pandemic with Dr. Michael Oster Home. Dr. Oster Home 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. Oster Home 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 Doll, reporter for CITRAP News,

and I'm your host for these conversations.

From the very beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, public attention on COVID-19 cases has

focused on two ends of the spectrum. Those who are severely affected and die from the virus,

and those who have mild or even asymptomatic illness and quickly recover.

But among the more than 6.5 million US COVID-19 infections since March,

there have been a growing number of reports of people experienced lingering symptoms for several

months and getting few answers from the medical community. On this September 17 episode of the

Oster Home Update, we're going to explore the phenomenon of these COVID-19 long haulers,

and look at what we know about the lingering symptoms associated with the coronavirus.

We'll also discuss the current state of the pandemic, the controversy over the president's

response, and answer listener emails about reinfections and flu vaccination. But first,

we'll start with Dr. Oster Home's dedication. Thanks, Chris. As we have said on many other

of the other podcasts, I want to thank the audience for being with us today. In terms of the

dedication today and following up on your introduction, we want to dedicate this to the long haulers.

We're going to be talking about them today and the challenge that they face with their post-COVID-19

acute infections situation. It is a challenge, and we will do the best we can to give you the

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