“Right now, we have to have the public understand that this virus is really dangerous-- that if you share air with people in the public spaces or in your private home with people who you haven’t had bubbled experiences with, meaning that they have been out in public, then, you’re at risk,” announced.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Monday declared their Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board to shape the administration's strategy to fight the pandemic.
Osterholm, who will be one of 10 advisory board members on Biden's task force, doubled down on the president-elect warning of a “very dark winter” saying the virus will vastly spread.
DECEIVED AND DEPLOYED: HOW HUNDREDS OF SRI LANKANS WERE TRICKED INTO FIGHTING RUSSIA'S WAR
“Over the course of the next 12 to 14 weeks are likely to be the darkest period in this entire pandemic and that they [Americans] have to take this thing very seriously,” Osterholm said.
WATCH: BEFORE SEINFELD MCDONALD'S FEATURING GEORGE COSTANZA BACK IN 1985
WATCH: THE APPRENTICE FEATURING MELANIA AND 2-MONTH-OLD BARRON
The U.S. became the first country to top 10 million COVID-19 cases Monday afternoon amid a recent wave of infections that's been called the third wave of COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
WATCH: MIKE JOHNSON'S STANDS OUTSIDE COURT FOR FIERCE DEFENSE OF TRUMP
Daily infections have passed 100,000 five times in the past week, reaching 131,420 on Saturday.
Osterholm emphasized that pandemic "fatigue" and “pandemic anger,” along with people breathing the same indoor air and thinking that the pandemic was just a politically motivated matter could lead to a big uptick in cases by the holiday season.
COULD TRUMP JOIN MANDELA AND MOTHER THERESA? IF HOUSE REPUBLICANS HAVE THEIR WAY, HE MIGHT!
“It would not surprise me if by the time we got to the holidays we could be reporting over 200,000 cases a day,” Osterholm stressed.
When asked whether seeing 200,000 cases a day would “mean we have to shut down,” Osterholm responded: “If we have runaway cases, the economy will suffer miserably.”
BANNON'S CONTEMPT CASE HEATS UP AS PRISON GATES SWING OPEN
Though, Trump seems to have a different approach to the virus, calming the public after Pharma giant Pfizer and German biotech company BioNTech declared Monday that its leading vaccine candidate is more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 to people without signs of prior infection.
WATCH: JD VANCE BLASTS DA AND KEY WITNESS IN TRUMP CASE
Trump touted the news almost instantly, tweeting an all-caps declaring, “STOCK MARKET UP BIG, VACCINE COMING SOON.”
“SUCH GREAT NEWS!” the president wrote.
Meanwhile, Biden says there's no reason to relax at all. “Today’s news does not change this urgent reality. Americans will have to rely on masking, distancing, contact tracing, hand washing, and other measures to keep themselves safe well into next year. Today’s news is great news, but it doesn’t change that fact,” he said.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
