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“There seems to be a big disconnect between the White House recently predicting up to 100 million cases in the fall and earlier this month the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only making a recommendation about wearing masks on public transportation,” Bergen asked Osterholm during the interview.
“Yes, I think this has been kind of a whiplash moment for the public on Covid-19. You also had the statement made recently saying that we are on the downside of the pandemic,” Osterholm responded, referencing an April statement by Dr. Anthony Fauci that the U.S. was “certainly” “out of the pandemic phase” of dealing with the coronavirus.
Fauci later walked back his comments, appearing on an NPR podcast to tell Americans the pandemic was “not over.”
“His comment was obviously interpreted by most to mean that the pandemic was over. I realize that he was referring to the fact that we’re out of the big peak of cases right now, which is true,” Osterholm said.
“On the other hand, I’ve seen no data which supports the possibility of a fall or winter surge in the U.S. resulting in 100 million cases. No one should make that kind of statement without providing the assumptions behind that number,” he added.
Osterholm argued that such case numbers were a possibility, but that it was “more likely” to happen if a new, more infectious variant showed up that could evade “existing immune protection.”
“Any modeling that looks beyond 30 days out is largely based on pixie dust. I worry that the White House has gotten way ahead of their skis on this one,” he said, before going on to express his support for the Biden administration’s efforts to secure additional funding to fight the coronavirus.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
