Thread by @BreeMinneapolis, Dr. Osterholm is the first speaker at Minne-College and it's like a [...]

Dr. Osterholm is the first speaker at Minne-College and it's like a damned rock star sighting.

https://www.umnalumni.org/s/1867/18/interior.aspx?sid=1867&gid=2&pgid=2407&cid=7863&ecid=7863&crid=0&calpgid=480&calcid=2988

One year ago, he called COVID-19 a pandemic.

"We got to 72,000 cases a day and thought, 'it couldn't get much worse.'"

"Variants emerging are our biggest challenge of the pandemic."

"I would like to tell you that 4000 deaths a day is a ceiling. It is not. It is not."

"We're in the bottom of the third or the top of the fourth in the pandemic."

"If we're going to stop this pandemic, we have to stop it in the world. It's a strategic issue."

"I wish I had better news, but I promised to tell you the truth."

"In Los Angeles, there have been 29,000 deaths. In New Zealand, 25 deaths... in this country we've not been willing to sacrifice or make the effort."

"I think I know less about this virus than I did six months ago."

Thinks the vaccine will provide protection for 8-10 months, but just doesn't know.

Question from a teacher returning to school in-person to a building built in 1923: what can she do to protect herself and her students?

A: No school-age child in MN has died. "Stop swapping air." Respiratory protection.

Difference between people who are anti-vaccine and vaccine-hesitant. The last mile is the distribution system, and the last inch is getting the needle in arms. "Operation Warp Speed" was a terrible name. We've done very little to tell the story of this vaccine.

Residual concern from Tuskegee remains.

"Very hard to watch all of the disinformation - it's not even misinformation, it's disinformation."

"We have set unrealistic expectations for the public." Won't be until March when we'll have enough vaccine to vaccinate over-65 + under-65 with medical conditions. Osterholm has not yet been able to be vaccinated but he "can't wait to get it."

Very emotional moment to watch his daughter (head of UMN NICU) get her vaccine.

Doesn't support the first shot-only approach - worried it will enhance the development of more strains with this approach. Need the robust immune response that comes from the second shot.

A vaccine is coming that is a one-dose shot, but it's not here yet.

"I am so concerned about the days ahead."

"One of the most painful parts of my jobs is talking to health care workers who have watched patients die day after day after day."

"If we think it's bad now, it's going to get worse."

Over 2400 healthcare workers in the U.S. have died of COVID-19.

Plug for the Frontline Families Fund: https://frontlinefamiliesfund.org

"Out of 10 million Americans... 7000 will have a heart attack in a week. Not related to the vaccine."

"We know that people who are more frail are less likely to respond to vaccination."

So don't hang out with your 90-year-old mother who has been vaccinated when you have not.

"How much short-term pain are we willing to accept? How do we compensate people who have been hurt economically?"

Other countries have invested in it, and the public looked at it as something they could band together and defeat.

"I've watched this virus tear families apart because of people who think it's not real versus those who are appropriately concerned."

"There are 8 billion people on earth eligible for the vaccine, many of whom want it."

Challenge is how to improve production. What are the number of machines that can manufacture this vaccine? It won't ramp up quickly.

"When you can get it [the vaccine], get it."

"In my 45-year career, I've never seen a virus like this."

"We know reinfection can occur. We have the data to support this conclusion."

Don't know how often this is occurring, don't know the timeline.

Host comments that Dr. Osterholm has a high tolerance for ambiguity. #publichealthhero

"I would not tell anybody ever 'don't get vaccinated.'"

"We have to run what we do and how we do it by the science... I just try to call balls and strikes. Just tell the truth, and if you don't know, say that. The CDC was largely handcuffed in this."

Feels good about the nonpartisan job the FDA did in getting this vaccine out.

Has done a lot with the incoming @JoeBiden administration, and feels good that science will rule the day. "Elections have consequences."

"I'm going to speak up and speak out and say we need to have more stringent restrictions... I'll get more death threats because of it."

"What's coming in February just scares the hell out of me."

Q: How can we, the UMN community, support you?

A: I've never felt more supported in my life... it's been nothing short of remarkable. "I think I've cried all the tears I can cry... I've lost them all."

I was on a Zoom call with my grad school friends last weekend and naturally we talked about the pandemic, but we also talked about Dr. Osterholm - none of us had a class with him and were only vaguely aware of him pre-pandemic.

And now everyone knows him, and he's greatly increased the value of a degree from @PublicHealthUMN.

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