Politics & Government
Minnesota’s Michael Osterholm Named To Biden’s COVID-19 Task Force
The task force will help craft Biden's pandemic plan when he steps into office in January.
By Rilyn Eischens
November 9, 2020
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University of Minnesota professor and infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm has been named to President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 task force.
The task force will help craft Biden’s pandemic plan when he steps into office in January. Biden has said he’ll make the nation’s COVID-19 response a priority as president, as states across the country — including Minnesota — report record-breaking infection rates and death tolls.
Find out what's happening in Minneapolisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The 13-member panel also includes Dr. Rick Bright, who served as a vaccine official in the Trump administration and has been an outspoken critic of the government’s approach to the pandemic; and Dr. Zeke Emanual, an oncologist who served in the Obama administration and has advocated for a stronger response to COVID-19, the New York Times reported.
“Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most important battles our administration will face, and I will be informed by science and by experts,” Biden said in a written statement Monday.
Osterholm, the director of the U’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and former state epidemiologist, has been a prominent voice in the state’s pandemic response.
Health experts hope the nation’s pandemic response will focus more on science and data rather than politics under Biden. Some officials told the Associated Press they would like to see a more cohesive national strategy after President Donald Trump gave states wide latitude to come up with their own policies.
“The past year of misinformation, confusion and gaslighting from the White House has really left people without any trust that our government is capable of handling this,” Angela Rasmussen, a Columbia University researcher, told the Associated Press. “It’s going to be critical to begin communicating that, yes, this administration will be led by the science.”
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