Dr. Michael Osterholm is once again urging caution when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has on children.
On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech released a study that revealed their vaccine produced, "100 percent efficacy and robust antibody responses" in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years old.
The study comes at a time when COVID-19 variants appear to be having a much larger impact on children.
"What we're seeing in Minnesota is a very rapid spread of this virus in kids," said Dr. Osterholm during the WCCO Radio Morning News on Wednesday.
Dr. Osterholm said that the arrival of the B117 variant has completely changed the pandemic and what it means for children.
"We are seeing widespread transmission and this is well known in the community for the last five weeks," Dr. Osterholm said. "We've been seeing major transmission in youth sports, going from school to school, and we have a number of schools in the state seeing a high number of these cases."
Osterholm told Cory Hepola the reason for the rising infections is because the B117 variant is 70 to 100 percent more infectious than previous variants.
"It's also causing 50 to 60 percent more severe illness," Osterholm added.
The winter high school sports seasons are wrapping up with the state hockey tournament being held this week in St. Paul and the state basketball tournament wrapping up next week at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis.
Despite the desire to play, Dr. Osterholm warned that COVID-19 risks are much greater during athletic events, especially hockey.
"At last count, and this was over a month ago, we had over 50 outbreaks linked to hockey in Minnesota," he said. "One of the challenges we have with hockey is that it creates this perfect bubble for the sharing of this virus. The cold air and the glass surrounding holds the cold air down. The hot air is like a dome on top of it. So you don't get great ventilation on an ice skating rink."
COVID-19 has prematurely ended the hockey seasons for the girls' hockey team at Centennial high school, as well as the boys' teams at Hill-Murray and Hermantown.
