In a little over a month, the omicron variant has become the most infectious strain of COVID-19, accounting for most new cases worldwide. But what should Americans expect in the next four to six weeks?
Dr. Michael Osterholm joined News Talk 830 WCCO's Vineeta Sawkar to discuss the state of the pandemic and what the omicron variant could mean for the rest of the world.
According to the doctor, the surge in cases from omicron will impact more than just hospitals, with grocery stores, schools, gas stations, and more being walloped by the increase in cases due to the variant.
But, Osterholm thinks that just knowing what might happen is extremely important right now. He says that we will see many more cases of the variant spread throughout the country over the next month or so, shutting things down.
"I've been saying for the last four to five weeks that this is going to be a viral blizzard. We understand blizzards in Minnesota," Osterholm said. "It can shut down virtually everything for at least a limited period of time."
The doctor continued saying that he thinks we are going to see so many people who are ill over the next three to four weeks that they are going to be out sick from their jobs, disrupting everyday life.
"But fortunately, this is a milder disease than we have seen with delta," Osterholm said. "The challenge being, of course, that we have many, many more people infected than would be with delta. Even if you have a smaller proportion having severe disease, it can still challenge our health care systems."
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Even though people are having mild illnesses from omicron, Osterholm said that having them out of their workplace for five to 10 days will cause issues.
"The bottom line is if you can't work, then you basically are going to watch systems in our country, of delivery, of services," Osterholm said. "Look what's happened in the airline industry. Clearly, weather has played a role, but if you look at the number of flight crews that are out, ground crews, FAA, air traffic control towers, TSA, suddenly the whole system gets clogged up."
The issues don't stop with the airline industry; as Osterholm pointed out, grocery stores, pharmacies, warehouses, and trucking industries are all being hit.
"This is the add-on event of this particular wave that is so critical, and we just have to get through, and we will, but expect things to be different over the next few weeks," Osterholm said.
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When it comes to testing and being aware of what's COVID and what's not, Osterholm pointed to the surge once again, saying there has been a demand worldwide for testing causing some of the issues. He also pointed out that it goes beyond just having a test available.
"It's not just, 'Are tests available?'" Osterholm said. "But, 'Are you going to have people that can run the testing center?' 'Are you going to have people who work in the laboratories that do the tests?'"
Osterholm said that testing facilities have been shut down over the last week because of the surge in cases.
But even still over the counter tests are also hard to find with supply chain issues, and the doctor pointed out that problems go beyond the tests themselves being made.
He said that manufacturing issues for tests could go all the way to the boxes that they come in not being available, explaining that the problems are more complex than many think.
"Everything has a back up to a back to a backup, and any one of those that go down brings everything else in that supply chain down," Osterholm said.
