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. I'm

your host for these conversations.

It's October 29th and more than eight months after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the situation

in the United States is starting to look eerily similar to the spring and summer, but on a larger scale.

While those earlier waves were marked by surges in certain hot spots around the country,

the coronavirus is now spreading uncontrolled in almost every state in the nation.

Hospitals are again filling out basic patients, and despite improvements in care, COVID-19 deaths

are rising, and the we're all in this together spirit has been replaced by coronavirus fatigue and

anger. As winter approaches, many Americans are worried about getting infected and wondering how

they're going to get through the next few months with their physical and mental health intact.

So for today's episode of the Oster Home Update, we're going to focus on how people should be

approaching the coming months, what they can do to best protect themselves and their loved ones,

and how they can prepare themselves mentally for the long haul through the COVID-19 winter.

But first, we'll begin with Dr. Oster Home's welcome and dedication.

Thank you, Chris, and welcome back to everyone on our podcast today. It's a real pleasure to have you,

and again, thank you so much for spending your time with us. We know you have many other options,

and so it's a real honor to have you with us. At the same time, I also just want to say, and

...