Infectious disease specialist warns next coronavirus surgeon will hit younger people, but

Infectious disease specialist Michael Os Sterholm is warning Americans not to put down their guard despite cases of coronavirus, hospitalization and continuing to reduce deaths.

“All I can say is that we are in the grip of a hurricane right now,” Osterholm told “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Things seem to be going very well. We also see blue skies. ”

But, Osterholm said the more contagious B.1.1.7. The cover from the UK is slipping below the surface. A month ago it was responsible for only 1 to 4 percent of cases in the U.S., now it has risen to 30 to 40 percent.

“And in Europe, we’ve seen an increase in cases when we hit this percentage,” said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Osterholm also said the new genre is also spreading to smaller populations – as schools are reopening in many areas – and broke out in a high school game in his home state of Minnesota last week.

“We will go through some tough days with this new variant virus in the older population and the younger population,” he said.

Osterholm praised the pace of the country’s vaccination efforts, but warned that the numbers so far and the expected vaccine supply next week “would not really take care of the problem.”

“We still have a lot of high-risk people,” he said. “When this boom comes, they remain very sensitive.”

Watch the full discussion in the clip above.