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.

Over the two years that we've been producing this podcast, there have been some weeks

where writing this introduction is more difficult than others.

What do you say when things haven't changed all that much from the previous week?

That's where I found myself this week.

The COVID trends we've been discussing over the previous episodes, from the Omicron

Surgeon Asia to the rise of BA2 in Europe and the declining cases here in the United States,

all remain.

We're just waiting to see what happens next.

That being said, there has been some news this week.

The FDA has approved a fourth dose of the Pfizer-Biontech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, and

stopped the deployment of a monoclonal antibody in parts of the country where BA2 is on

the rise.

And in China, officials appear to be doubling down on their zero COVID policy.

We'll discuss all those issues here today in this March 31st episode of the podcast, as

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