Biden virus task force expert warns ‘we’re about to enter Covid hell’

Disease expert says US not even close to peak of pandemic

A member of Joe Biden’s new coronavirus task force has warned Americans the country is about “to enter Covid hell.” (AFP via Getty Images)

A member of Joe Biden’s new coronavirus task force has warned Americans the country is about “to enter Covid hell.”

Infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm made the grim prediction as he said the next few months would be “the darkest of the pandemic.”

Dr Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNBC that the number of new daily infections was “going to continue to increase substantially.”

“We are about to enter Covid hell,” said Dr Osterholm.

“We have not even come close to the peak and, as such, our hospitals are now being overrun.

“The next three to four months are going to be, by far, the darkest of the pandemic.

“I don’t think America quite gets this yet. This is going to get much worse.

“This is not to scare people out of their wits. This is to scare people into their wits to understand that because we still have control.

“We can basically limit the contacts we have with people that will dramatically impact our ability of getting this disease.”

The US became the first country in the world to pass 10 million cases of coronavirus and has seen more than 244,000 deaths.

Dr Osterholm predicted that the country would soon look back at the figure of 100,000 daily cases and “wish to be back there.”

He welcomed the early vaccine data released by drug company Pfizer as a “great, great finding” but cautioned that more data was still needed.

“Until we have those pieces of information, we can’t really know how much of a game-changer this really is,” he said.