As spring break travelers return home and the highly transmissible U.K. COVID-19 variant is discovered in all 50 U.S. states, the country is on the verge of a fourth COVID-19 pandemic surge. That's according to a number of health experts, including Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. 

However, Dr. Poland says there is some good news related to the transmission of COVID-19 on surfaces.

"Wisdom resides in changing your mind and your recommendations as new data and science becomes available," says Dr. Poland. "What the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is doing is modifying those guidelines, saying that the risk of touching a contaminated surface and then getting infected is very low."

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast Dr. Poland explains more about the CDC guidelines and he addresses other COVID-19 topics in the news, including recent data that says men are more vaccine-hesitant than women.

Watch: Dr. Poland discusses the latest COVID-19 news.

Read the full transcript.

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For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was either recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in a nonpatient care area where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting. Due to the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific understanding, along with guidelines and recommendations, may have changed since the original publication date. 

Research disclosures for Dr. Gregory Poland.

For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.

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