▲ Michael Osterholm Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota
Another observation that the spread of a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) caused by a mutant virus in the United States will be reenacted in mid-March.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, appeared on CNN on the 25th (local time) and announced that in the next few weeks there will be a surge of corona19 infections caused by a mutant coronavirus from the UK. .
“We are seeing a doubling of B.1.1.7 in this country, ie from the UK, about every ten days,” Osterholm said.
“Before the virus really takes off, it takes time to spread from some sort of small bush fire to a massive wildfire, usually up to four, six, or even eight weeks.”
He said he was worried about the third week of March.
Osterholm, who is also a member of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory group, has been a strong warning of the massive spread of COVID-19 caused by mutations in the United States.
On the 23rd, he published a report at the Center for Infectious Disease Research Policy and made a policy proposal to delay the second vaccination in order to provide a vaccine barrier to more people before the outbreak of mutations hit.
Osterholm said he was worried that millions of elderly people over 65 years old by the end of March would not have been vaccinated against Corona 19 at least once, and suggested that health authorities should aim to get at least one vaccination.
“We have convincing data that they (the elderly) have a surprising response after the first dose,” said Osterholm. “Because this mutation doesn’t wait for us, we have to get started quickly.” said.
The U.S. administration is expanding its gene sequencing capabilities to identify mutant viruses to address the threat of such mutations.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted gene sequencing of 25,000 samples per week in collaboration with public and private research institutes using an investment of $200 million (approximately 230 billion won) funded by the Biden administration last week. “We look forward to reaching our goal of doing so quickly,” said Rochelle Wallensky, CDC director.
(Yonhap News/Photo = Youtube Channel, Yonhap News, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Minnesota)
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