The Mill City Times Interview: Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)

Article by Becky Fillinger, Photo by Ackerman Gruber

Dr. Michael OsterholmLocal infectious disease expert, Dr. Michael Osterholm, recently sat down with us to talk about how his life has changed in the last year and how we can all become more resilient. Did we mention he’s very humble? He’s the very best of neighbors.  

Q:  You've become a public health rock star. How have demands on your time changed in the past year? 

A:  There’s an old song about the difference between heaven and hell - I’m not sure which side we’re on right now. I did learn one thing, though, when you're going through the gates of hell don't stop just keep going.

Q:  Just like the wartime advice of Winston Churchill?

A:  That’s right. March 11 was the one-year anniversary of my last airplane flight. Prior to that, I was flying an average about 150,000 miles a year with all my international travel and work. I’ve not been in a plane since then. Instead of doing 150,000 miles a year in the air, I now do about 1500 hours of Zoom meetings. I have the same tank of gas in my car that I had three months ago. 

Q:  What's it like to have your name on T shirts and mugs, especially the WWOD (What would Osterhold do?) merchandise?

A:  You know, it's a bit uncomfortable. I’ve been in the public eye for 40 years - 45 years since my time with the Minnesota Department of Health. And you know it's always been about the issues, about the team. The thing I’m most proud about, for example, is the senior leadership team at CIDRAP. We've all been together now for 36 years or more. They left the state department and came with me to start the Center, so it's never been focused on me. It's always been about the team. They say there is no I in team and that’s very true with CIDRAP. It’s one of reasons why our Center has been so successful – because of the team effort.

Q:  What’s a typical work day for you at this time?

A:  I typically get up early in the morning to make sure I catch up on everything - so it's not unusual for me to be up at 4:30AM or 5:00AM. I’m often doing morning shows, those are scheduled from around 6 AM to 8AM. Then I’m on Zoom meetings nonstop during the day – or other media events. And oftentimes, I’ll be on late night television. Earlier this week, I finished with Brian Williams at about 10:45PM. Then it starts all over again at 4:30AM.

Q:  This a question from one of your fans - how many times may I use an N95 mask before it loses its effectiveness?

A:  It all depends on the conditions under which you use it. If you use it where you're not getting it otherwise soiled, you can reuse it many times. You know we are unfortunately in a period when we've had a shortage of N95 masks for healthcare workers. Healthcare workers have a system where they bad them after a day of use and the virus activity, if it's present, will be greatly reduced after 5 days. They have five masks which they rotate through during the week.

Q:  We’ve been socially isolating for a year and we all hear the daily totals of COVID-19 infections and deaths. Do you have advice on how we can fight compassion fatigue?

A:  Compassion fatigue is really an oxymoron. It shouldn't exist. It actually doesn’t exist. It's like love, the more you give away, the more you have. Compassion operates the same way - the more you give, the more you have. It doesn’t drain your tank – it refills it.  

Q:  Thank you so much for speaking with us. How do we follow your news?

A:  We’re on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and if you visit our web page, you can catch up on a lot of the news on infectious diseases.