Hi everyone. Before we start this week's episode of the Ostrome Update,

I want you to know that it was recorded on Tuesday evening January 5th.

Ironically, the title that we chose for this episode was,

places we've never been. This title was in reference to the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, it also describes the events in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, January 6th.

While our nation's attention is necessarily focused on the situation,

we must not lose sight of the immense challenge that the COVID-19 pandemic

and its new and concerning developments continue to pose.

Now, here's this week's episode of the Ostrome Update.

Hello and welcome to the Ostrome Update COVID-19,

a weekly 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 Doll, reporter for CITRAP News. I'm your host for these conversations.

It's January 7th, the first Thursday of a new year that everyone hopes will be better than the last.

But as we begin 2021, the terrible trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic continues where it

left off in 2020. In the United States and around the globe, new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations,

and deaths continue to surge, and there are fears that holiday travel and gatherings will

exacerbate the situation. Complicating matters are the more transmissible variants of the virus

that are fueling outbreaks in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and the vaccines that we all

...