Cold weather, increased travel, waning immunity and the potential for new variants may serve up the perfect recipe for a holiday COVID-19 surge, according to Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.  

"I have consistently said what's very likely to happen as we get to the cooler weather and see the trends in travel is that we will have another surge," says Dr. Poland. "We're in this unusual situation where the pandemic is actually getting worse because humans don't want to believe that the pandemic is just as important now as it was a year ago."

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Poland answers several listener questions and talks more about being vigilant against COVID-19 as the U.S. heads into a second winter with this coronavirus. He also addresses the recent news that wild deer have shown evidence of COVID-19 infection and what that might mean in the battle to eliminate the disease.

Research disclosures for Dr. Gregory Poland.