Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been a number of experts in health, infectious disease, and other scientific studies that have risen to prominence. The biggest, nationally, is Dr. Anthony Fauci of course.
In Minnesota one of the most famous voices in infectious disease research for decades has been Dr. Michael Osterholm. Now that we’re in a pandemic, Osterholm has become one of the highest profile voices nationally as well. Osterholm has been a guest on WCCO Radio multiple times per week since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There has certainly been a lot of debate about COVID-19, especially when it comes to masks, vaccines, government mandates and more. For so many, it has not been about safety as much as it has been about impingement on freedom.
There are outspoken voices in government that are against any mandates. There is currently active lawsuits in Florida and Texas about mask mandates in schools because state leaders are opposed to these requirements. This despite frequent warnings from these health experts about the spread of the variants that are currently leading to an increase in cases worldwide, including in children.
Osterholm, who is the Director of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, says the political arguments around the vaccine are dangerous.
“Well, I think we realize at this point that only part of the discussion, or the disagreement you might even say, about the vaccine is does it really work, is it safe,” Osterholm asks. “It's grounded in so much more than that. Our country is in a very precarious position today in terms of its political ideologies and what people believe or feel.”
It are these ideologies that have created our current environment where half the country seems pro-vaccine while the other half has, so far, refused. Osterholm says that currently there are over 90 million unvaccinated in the U.S. and as long as that is happening fighting the pandemic will be a “tremendous challenge” for our health care system.
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Osterholm was a member of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board, is an advisor to the World Health Organization, has served in many roles with the Minnesota Department of Health and written extensively on the topic of infectious disease. His book, “Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs”, lays out the dangers of worldwide pandemics and also provides a ‘battle-plan’ for taking on these deadly diseases.
Osterholm told WCCO on Thursday that over the course of the last 18 months he has received many threats and that has been very difficult for him when he believes it is his job to share information that hopefully will save lives.
“I've been in this business for 46 years and I've never seen a time like this,” Osterholm told WCCO’s John Hines. “You know, if you were to look at my notes that I get, the messages I get, and the number of ones that are death threats, it would be quite remarkable for you I'm sure. I've never experienced that before. And many of my colleagues are experiencing the same thing. So I think that this is such a difficult time.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President, has also spoken to some of the threats he’s faced. In July, a Maryland man was charged after allegedly sending death threats to Dr. Anthony Fauci. It’s alleged that he threatened to set Fauci and his family on fire.
Last summer, amid "growing threats to his personal safety", the White House gave him a security detail, The Washington Post reported.
"Getting death threats for me and my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security is just, I mean, it's amazing," Fauci said.
For Osterholm, it has never been about politics. Osterholm has long worked with government at the local and Federal level, including as special advisor under Republican Tommy Thompson when he was Director of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush Administration, and with the incoming Biden Administration last year.
Osterholm has pointed out several times on WCCO that any of the political in-fighting, misinformation, or anything not based on the actual science of COVID has no place in what he shares.
“I'm not into the political ideology,” says Osterholm. “I don't care about that. I care about saving people's lives. I think about how many kids today are orphaned in this country because both of their parents have died of COVID over the course of the last 18 months. I just had a very good friend who, earlier this week, her mother died one evening, her sister died the next morning. When you start seeing, feeling and knowing that, that's when you start to realize this is such a much more important discussion. This is about life. This should not be about political ideology.”
For Osterholm the message has been a simple one. Follow the science and don’t let the politics cloud the way we, as a country, handle these extraordinary times.
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