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.

Earlier this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the end to England's

remaining COVID-19 restrictions.

While noting in a speech to members of Parliament that the pandemic is not over, Johnson said

that the Omrcrn wave has passed, and that the country would no longer need laws to compel

people to isolate after infected.

Let us learn to live with this virus, Johnson said.

England is not the first country to declare that it was moving on from a pandemic mindset,

nor will it be the last.

With the Omrcrn wave receding in many parts of the world, other countries are likely to

follow in the coming weeks and months.

Are we finally entering the era of the new normal?

That's what we'll discuss on this February 24th episode of the podcast, 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 variant, review new data on COVID-19 hospitalization

...