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.

Once again, as we have seen several times over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United

States appears to be entering a more optimistic phase of the pandemic experience.

A nationwide surge of Omicron cases has passed its peak.

Several states are seeing transmission levels similar to those before Omicron arrived, and

COVID-19 hospitalizations are declining.

This renewed optimism has prompted some governors to announce the end of indoor mask mandates

in masking requirements and schools, and is fueling a larger conversation about learning

how to live with this virus going forward.

But what the country is still reporting more than 2,500 deaths a day from COVID is now

the right time to be having this conversation.

On this February 10th episode of the podcast, we're going to dive into that question as

we assess the trajectory of the pandemic here in the United States and around the world.

We'll also get the latest on the BA2 sub variant of Omicron, answer a COVID query about

COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5, and share the latest beautiful place submission

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