Epidemiologist predicts surge of dangerous COVID-19 variant in US

It’s just a matter of time before the highly contagious UK COVID-19 variant wreaking havoc around the world surges in the US, a leading epidemiologist warned Thursday.

“This B.1.1.7 surge is going to happen. It’s not an issue of if. It’s going to happen,” Michael Osterholm, head of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said on CNN’s “New Day.” “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,” Osterholm said.