WTIP talks with Dr. Osterholm about COVID-19 and Cook County's response to pandemic

Cook County remains the only county in Minnesota with fewer than 200 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in its local population.

At the same time, Cook County has among the highest rates of vaccination in Minnesota. Among the local population who are 12 and older, 80 percent have received at least the first dose of the vaccine. In addition, Cook County Public Health Supervisor Grace Grinager says that 100 more people were vaccinated in a series of vaccination events August 11 and 12.

Why has the response to the vaccine in Cook County been so high and the case count remained so low throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?

WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs spoke with Dr. Michael Osterholm, the leading infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, for some considerations on this topic.

Also discussed during the interview were a surge in new cases statewide as the delta variant spreads, a new report from the Mayo Clinic regarding ‘pronounced reduction’ in the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine this summer and why Cook County residents should be proud of the response locally to the global pandemic.