Epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, a member of Joe Biden's new coronavirus task force, Tuesday warned that the surging coronavirus cases across the country are creating a "perfect storm," and Americans shouldn't be surprised when the country hits over 200,000 new cases every day.
"We're going to see by far the darkest days of this pandemic between now and next spring when the vaccine becomes available," Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said on "CBS This Morning."
"On Labor Day we were 32,000 cases a day in this country, now we're running in the 120,000 to 130,000 cases a day," Osterholm said, adding that with the growing spread, the nation's hospitals are "about to be overrun."
Meanwhile, Osterholm said it's too early to list the task force's specific goals, but he's feeling "encouraged" by the credentials of his colleagues and about the commitment of Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris to "critical issues."
"[It] has been clear for months, in terms of listening to the discussion about this, that science has to run the day," said Osterholm. "I think that that's what's going to happen here."
Osterholm praised the Trump administration for its efforts in pushing vaccine research but said he is concerned about the challenges of distributing the shots, including one announced by drugmaker Pfizer on Monday said to be 90% effective in preventing COVID-19.
Hospital systems are at risk of tying up resources with virus treatment at a time when intensive care units are overwhelmed, he said, and that could leave few resources for a vaccination effort.
"We're very concerned about that," Osterholm said. "We are very concerned about the shortage of staff now just to treat patients, then to try to overlay the vaccine issue even within the healthcare setting itself is going to be a challenge."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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