Posted inEDUCATION

Omicron will hit Minnesota schools like a ‘viral blizzard.’ We need to prepare for mass absences, building closures, and more.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, a leading national epidemiologist, talked to Sahan Journal about how the Omicron variant will affect schools and families in Minnesota–and how to prepare for it. What’s helpful: Avoiding contact, high-quality masks, ventilation, and vaccines. What doesn’t help: back-to-school testing. The news isn’t good. But Osterholm expects the surge will pass quickly: “The big thing psychologically: We’ve just got to get through the next three or four weeks,” he says. “I think things will be much better at the end of that.”