Osterholm Quotes

“I wouldn’t have any problem drinking milk tonight from an [H5N1] influenza standpoint at all. My grandchildren could drink the milk tonight.”

"That [transparency and clear communication] to me is being missed here [in US Department of Agriculture communication on H1N1 avian flu in cattle]. And I can’t for the life of me understand why. This is a serious public health challenge, but it shouldn’t be a media challenge. And they’re turning it into one."

"They [US Department of Agriculture officials] are creating the perception that something [H1N1 avian flu spread to atypical hosts] is happening or not happening that would not meet with the public’s approval. And this is really unfortunate. There’s no evidence here that there’s some kind of a smoking gun, that somebody did something wrong. Just tell us what you’re doing.”

“It [spike in US measles cases] doesn't bode well for what the future might bring. Because we're just going to continue to see more and more international travel. Meanwhile, we're continuing to see even more widespread measles transmission around the world. And that combination is a very, unfortunately, deadly combination.”

“This [low risk of H5N1 avian influenza infecting humans] all could change in a heartbeat with additional mutations. But there’s no evidence this virus has changed [with infection of cattle]."

“The [H5N1 avian flu] virus doesn’t have the right lock and key to get into our cells as it does the bird cells and so the virus has to change some to have that happen."

"Over the course of the last 20 years, we've been fighting the issue of vaccine safety and the fact that parents don't believe they're safe. What we're seeing now is major rejections of vaccines; it's not about safety, it's about 'Don't tell me what the hell to do.'"

"Is the [COVID-19] pandemic over for some people earlier than it is for others? That doesn’t seem to make sense. That’s kind of like saying that there’s two different temperatures in Minneapolis in one night."

"Our hospitals have let us down [by not requiring the use of N95 respirators]."

"I think social media in general was both a help and a hindrance [during the COVID-19 pandemic]."

“Public health has to be realistic. In making recommendations to the public today, we have to try to get the most out of what people are willing to do. … You can be absolutely right in the science and yet accomplish nothing because no one will listen to you.”

“The bottom-line message is we are quite unprepared [for a chronic wasting disease spillover]. If we saw a spillover right now, we would be in free fall. There are no contingency plans for what to do or how to follow up.”

“We're going to start seeing more and more of these [measles] outbreaks," mainly among unvaccinated children. "We're going to see more kids seriously ill, hospitalized and even die. And what's so tragic about this, these are all preventable.”

"I think [COVID-19 is] starting to come down right now across the country, The real challenge is just interpreting what's next."

“We have an ongoing evolutionary battle between the [SARS-CoV-2] virus and us."

“I think [Omicron] JN.1 clearly is driving transmission. Fortunately, there’s no evidence it’s producing more severe illness.”

"Right now, we're talking roughly about 38,000 [COVID-19] hospitalizations a week in this country, almost where we were a year ago, but that's below 60,000, where we were 2 years ago. So the numbers of hospitalizations and serious illnesses are coming down, but we're still losing over 200 people a day in this country."

“If you look at the different peaks in [COVID-19] cases since the beginning of the pandemic, every one of them coincided with the emergence of a new variant."

"The biggest driver for what happens with [COVID-19] cases is which variant takes over."

"Not getting kids vaccinated is the equivalent of putting them in the back seat without buckling them up, driving 90 miles an hour and running red lights."