At the moment you thought the COVID-19 pandemic was finally somewhat under control now that a year has passed and millions of Americans are being vaccinated, leading “experts” are warning that a U.K. variant known as B.1.1.7 will be the next wave to hit the United States and, if so, will likely wreak havoc across the upper Midwest as its first target.
According to the New York Post, Michael Osterholm, head of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, issued the warning this week, saying that the emergence of the variant is all but a certainty.
“This B.1.1.7 surge is going to happen. It’s not an issue of if. It’s going to happen,” Osterholm said. “And if you follow what’s happened in the past year, the upper Midwest and Northeast lights up first. They have the first set of cases and the southern Sunbelt states light up next.”
Advertisement - story continues below
As far as timing when the variant could run its course across the United States, Osterholm is predicting it to happen within the next few months. He urged federal, state and local governments to get more vaccines out in order to help get ahead of the curve.
“Even though we’re seeing a few cases in that area, mark my word, in the next six to eight weeks, we’re going to see that area light up, too. We need to get more vaccine out. That’s the key message right now,” the infectious disease expert warned.
Stop the censors, sign up to get today's top stories delivered right to your inbox
So far, the UK variant has already been identified in 49 U.S. states, including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Osterholm doubled down on convincing people of the urgency of taking measures to prevent a surge of the variant, which is said to cause more serious reactions and is transmitted much easier than the original COVID-19 virus.
Advertisement - story continues below
“I’m telling you right now … we are just beginning to surge. Denying it is not going to help us. We are walking into the mouth of this virus monster as if somehow we don’t know it’s here. And it is here,” Osterholm said.
While we won’t know for sure how accurate Osterholm’s predictions are until it actually happens, the scariest outcome of seeing a surge of the variant is the possibility of America going back into various forms of lockdowns and restrictions which wrecked the otherwise strong U.S. economy for a year.
With everything that’s happened as a result of those lockdowns, including higher rates of suicide, overdoses, depression, job loss, I truly can’t imagine that America can make it through another series of lockdowns without massive consequences.
Only time will tell if Osterholm’s prediction comes to fruition, but it’s probably wise to at least mentally prepare for the possibility, as one can only imagine how the Biden administration will use these warnings to further a number of agendas.
