In this weeks look around the Air Force, Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman is nominated to be the new chief of space operations, a new COVID-19 vaccine becomes available for service members, and Airmen can provide feedback on armor and other gear through the GearFit application. (Hosted by Tech. Sgt. Britt Crolley)
For previous episodes, click here for the Air Force TV page.
Related links:- Lt. Gen. Chance Saltzman nominated to be next Space Force CSO- Air Force prepares for newly approved COVID-19 vaccine: Novavax provides new option for unvaccinated Airmen, Guardians- GearFit shortens feedback loop
A study out of the United Kingdom has shown that health care workers who received multiple COVID-19 vaccine boosters after initially being infected with the original virus strain from Wuhan are more prone to chronic reinfection from the Omicron variant.
This may help explain why the people who have received several COVID-19 vaccine boosters are increasingly the ones who end up in the hospital with severe COVID-19 symptoms, sometimes resulting in death, said scientist and physicianDr. Robert Malone.
In a July 21 interview for EpochTVs Crossroads program, Malone, an inventor of mRNA vaccine technology, said this phenomenon is the result of a process called immune imprinting,whereby initial exposure to a virus strain may prevent the body from producing enough neutralizing antibodies against a newer strain.
He added that this process is reinforced by multiple inoculations.
All over the world, we are seeing these datasets that show that,unfortunately, the people that are dyingand being hospitalized are overwhelmingly the highly vaccinated, he said. It is not those that have natural immunity.
The COVID-19 vaccines currently in circulation are based on the Wuhan strain of theCCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, which causes the illness now identified as COVID-19.
A number of strains have emerged and become dominant since the Wuhan strain was prevalent, including the currently dominant Omicron variant.
The problem is that COVID-19 vaccines use only one of the components of the whole virus, which is a spike protein, so the immune system of a person who received an mRNA vaccine becomes trained to respond to only that component, Malone explained.
Ifthat antigen has changed slightly, if that virus has changed slightly, [the immune system] still reacts as if its the old one, he said.
The COVID-19 vaccines are based on the spike protein of the original virus identified in Wuhan. That strain of the virus no longer exists and is not circulating in the population anymore, Malone said.
If a vaccine based on a now-defunct viral strain is repeatedly administered, it trains the immune system to focus more and more on the antigen delivered through the vaccine and to disregard anything else thats slightly different, Malone explained, calling this phenomenon immune imprinting.
The literature on immune imprinting is bombproof, Malone said. Paper after paper after paper now, in the top peer-reviewed journals from the top laboratories all across the world, are documenting it.
The phenomenon has long been known in the field of vaccinology, said Malone, but the topic is verboten, and people who work in the field prefer not to discuss it, he said.
Health care workers in the UKmany of whom were infected with the Wuhan variant of the virus and also received three or four COVID-19 vaccine doseshave been developing chronic repeated infections from the Omicron variant, Malone said, citing a paper published in the academic journal Science.
Another paper published in Nature shows that the evolution of the virus is not coming from the general population, but rather from immunocompromised people who have received multiple vaccine doses, Malone said, and about 30 percent of the highly vaccinated population are having repeated infections.
This is contrary to the promoted narrative that the unvaccinated are putting the wider population at risk, Malone noted.
Natural immunity from a COVID-19 infection lasts for at least 14 months, including immunity against the Omicron strains, Malone said, citing a scientific paper from Qatar which has not yet been peer reviewed (pdf).
Vaccine-induced immunity, however, lasts only a couple of months, he added.
When someone gets infected with the original virus, that person will generate an immune response that includes all kinds of proteins from the virus, provided he or she hasnt experienced too much immune imprinting, Malone explained.
The problem with these monovalent vaccines, or the single-antigen vaccines, is theyre driving all your immune response against one thing as opposed to the whole virus. So all the virus has to do is genetically, through evolution, tweak a few knobs to escape that, he said. And that is exactly whats happened with Omicron.
The paradox is that most of the countries with emerging economies and low vaccination rates also have the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in the world, Malone said.
Its likely that were going to continue to see this trend, he said.
According to Our World in Data, only 1.4 percent of Haitis population has been vaccinated, and the country has recorded 838 COVID-19 deaths, a rate of 73 deaths per 1 million people.
In South Africa,where 32 percent of the population is vaccinated, there have been nearly 102,000 deaths, a rate of 1,717 deaths per 1 million people.
In the UK,75 percent of the population is vaccinated, and more than 184,000 people have died, which is a rate of2,736 deaths per 1 million.
And in the United States, 67 percent of the population is vaccinated, and 1.03 million people have died from the virus, a rate of 3,058 deaths per 1 million people.
Malone pointed out a problem with the current mRNA vaccines.
When a vaccine is injected into a patients arm, the RNA from the vaccine, which is a modified RNA, is supposed to last for only a couple of hours, but a study from Stanford University shows that the RNA sticks around for at least 60 days, Malone said.
However, the government only accounts for vaccine reactions and illnesses that are recorded on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)within the first couple of weeks after vaccination, even though the drug is still in the body two months later, Malone said.
The RNA from the vaccine produces more spike protein than the natural infection does, he said. Now that makes sense about why we see more adverse events with the vaccines than we see with the infection itself, because spike is a toxin.
VAERS was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to collect and analyze data about the adverse effects of vaccination.
The system relies on individuals to send in reports and is not intended to determine if a reported health problem was caused by a vaccine, but it is especially useful for detecting unusual or unexpected patterns of adverse event reporting that might indicate a possible safety problem with a vaccine, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Malone, president and co-founder of theInternational Alliance of Physicians and Medical Scientists, said over 17,000 doctors and scientists have signed a declaration statingunequivocallythat genetic vaccines need to be withdrawn.
These genetic vaccines are not working, he said.
Meiling Lee andZachary Stieber contributed to this report.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. As President Joe Biden comes in and out of isolation following recent coronavirus (COVID-19) infections and antigen tests, you may be asking yourself how to know for sure its OK to return to normal life after testing positive for the virus.
Biden had two negative antigen tests before leaving isolation the first time, after taking the antiviral medication Paxlovid, yet he still experienced a rebound infection and tested positive again, requiring a return to isolation.
And while Moderna and Pfizer two-dose vaccine series still offer protection against severe illness and death from COVID-19, and vaccine makers are looking to create booster vaccine doses that target the extremely contagious subvariants of omicron, BA.4 and BA.5, even vaccinated New Yorkers continue to test positive in their own home, leaving the question of isolating and ending quarantine a very private one.
Are antigen tests required to end quarantine?
So, what about ordinary citizens who get infected with COVID-19? Are we expected to take as many tests as Biden before ending isolation?
Well, no, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose guidance does not specifically recommend a negative antigen test, which is performed at home and provides results in less than 20 minutes after collecting samples with a nasal swab, in order to end isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.
CDC protocols call for children and adults who have tested positive for COVID and experienced mild symptoms to isolate for a minimum of five days with day one being the day after the positive test and end isolation at that time, as long as they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours.
They are expected to wear a mask around others for five additional days, the CDC advises.
People who test positive but remain asymptomatic can end isolation at least five days after the first positive test, with day 0 being the date their specimen was collected for the positive test. This is only for people who can continue to wear a properly well-fitted mask around others for five additional days. However, if symptoms develop after a positive test, their five-day isolation period should start over, and day 0 changes to the first day of symptoms, the CDC says.
The recommendations change for those who are severely ill, requiring hospitalization. They are expected to extend isolation to al least 10 days and up to 20 days after symptom onset and after fever ends without a fever reducer, the CDC says.
Benefits of a negative test
For those who prefer the confirmation of a rapid antigen test, the CDC suggests they take such a test later in your infection period for the most reliable results.
And some medical experts, and your own private doctor, may suggest that an at-home rapid antigen test should be negative before a person returns to work and social gatherings. And it might make you feel better too.
Given that a substantial portion of people do have a rapid positive test after five days, I think an updated recommendation should include people having a negative rapid test before coming out of isolation for COVID, Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told The Washington Post. Inglesby was formerly the Biden administrations senior adviser on testing.
Another twist that makes spread control difficult, medical experts say, is that the COVID-19 virus is most transmissible a day or two before symptoms even arrive, continuing for two or three days after.
And the CDC says it is very unlikely to pass along the virus after 10 days, even if a patient still is testing positive.
Yet, a negative at-home test can be very reassuring, Amy Barczak, an infectious-diseases expert at Massachusetts General Hospital who has researched how long patients with COVID can shed virus, told The Washington Post.
And the tests are much more available now than they were when the CDC first released its guidance and provided its online self-checking calculator for patients to determine where they are in the isolation process.
When should you test?
If you have COVID-like symptoms, the CDC recommends testing with an at-home antigen test immediately.
If you are negative, it is unlikely you have COVID.
If youve been exposed to someone who tests positive, the CDC suggests a PCR test to be certain.
Michigan reported 20,173 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases over the past week, up from the 19,653 cases recorded in the previous week.
There were 106 COVID-19 deaths over the past week, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which releases weekly totals every Tuesday.
The weekly case totals have been climbing every week for the past several weeks.
Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties have all moved into the red or high designation for COVID-19 transmission, under which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone should wear a mask in public.
The three counties had been in the green (low) or yellow (medium) classifications until recently, which carry less concern about COVID-19 transmission.
The CDC classifies each county based on several factors, including the number of hospitalizations and the current level of new cases per 100,000 population.
In the red classification, the CDC recommends:
Wearing a mask indoors in public and on public transportation.
Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
Getting tested if you have symptoms.
If you are at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19, consider taking additional precautions. To learn more, go to https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html.
In the yellow category, the CDC recommends only that people with certain health conditions wear a mask in public.
In the green category, the CDC recommends wearing a mask only if you have symptoms, a positive test or exposure to someone with COVID-19.
The CDC issues recommendations on mask usage but does not mandate it. State and local governments have not issued any mask mandates since the tri-county area fell into the red designation.
"This morning, the president's SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing was negative for a second consecutive day," presidential physician Kevin O'Connor wrote in a letter Sunday. "He will safely return to public engagement and presidential travel."
Biden tested negative on an antigen test Saturday as well, but remained in isolation until Sunday morning before departing for Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Departing the White House for Rehoboth Beach, the President told reporters he was "feeling good," saying, "After 18 days, I'm clear!"
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "People with recurrence of COVID-19 symptoms or a new positive viral test after having tested negative should restart isolation and isolate again for at least 5 days."
The CDC issued a health alert to doctors on May 24 advising that Covid-19 symptoms sometimes come back, and that may just be how the infection plays out in some people, regardless of whether they're vaccinated or treated with medications such as Paxlovid. The CDC said that most rebound cases involve mild disease and that there have been no reports of serious illness.
Biden is fully vaccinated and received two booster shots. He received his first two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine ahead of his inauguration in January 2021, his first booster shot in September and his second booster vaccination in March.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Sunday.
Although COVID-19 cases in Danville and Pittsylvania County are at least three times higher now than a year ago, the increased infection level isnt sounding alarm bells.
For a population that has broken free of pandemic precautions, its business and life as normal, as if a mutating virus isnt still lurking.
Another reason for the subdued response is because to date these subvariants arent causing an increase in severe COVID-19 illnesses, according to Brookie Crawford, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Health.
While cases are up, reports of severe cases, hospitalizations and visits to the emergency department are not climbing, she told the Register & Bee on Friday.
Sovah Health is currently treating 15 patients for COVID-19 between campuses in Danville and Martinsville, spokesperson Hailey Fowlkes confirmed Friday. Thats about five more than the middle of July.
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Additionally, COVID-19 treatments are available for people who may need it, and can help prevent severe illness in certain patients to help keep them out of the hospital, Crawford explained.
Most people with mild symptoms recover with at-home treatments.
People who are at high risk for severe illness should contact their health care provider after a positive test or after symptoms start [even if mild], to see if they may need treatment, she said. They may benefit from medications to help reduce the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.
However, to be effective, those treatments should begin in the first few days of experiencing symptoms.
The Pittsylvania-Danville Health District is in a slow-growth trajectory, meaning cases are rising but not at a level to be considered a surge.
The proof is in the pudding, Dr. Scott Spillmann, director of the Pittsylvania-Danville Health District, said about the current caseloads. He said while cases are up, they are starting to see a decrease.
By the numbers, Danville is adding about 25 new COVID-19 cases per day. Over in Pittsylvania County, 35 new cases are loaded into the record books each day. But those figures dont count the at-home test kits widely available now.
In fact, the University of Virginia now estimates that for every one COVID-19 case officially recorded, there are about 16 others that fly under the radar.
With home tests, people are more likely to take test and to take action, Spillmann said. Hospitalizations and deaths are down.
In Virginia, theres a mixed bag of trajectories, according to UVas latest report Friday. The Pittsylvania-Danville Health District is in a slow growth category, meaning cases are rising but not at a level to be considered a surge.
Other districts are showing a decline as national rates also start to slow.
Danville and Pittsylvania County are in the medium community level for COVID-19, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, 122 out of the 133 localities in the commonwealth are in medium or high community levels, designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Danville and Pittsylvania County are in the medium level, which carries a recommendation for people at high-risk for illnesses to consider wearing a mask. Over in neighboring Halifax County, the level is high, which triggers a suggestion for everyone to mask up in public indoor settings.
Throughout the pandemic, masking has been especially important for asymptomatic people individuals who show no signs of the illness, but are unknowingly spreading it to others.
Asymptomatic patients will always be of concern, however we hope that they are vigilant to any minor symptom or whether they have been around others who were positive or symptomatic, Chris Garrett, local health emergency coordinator with the health department, told the Register & Bee.
Those positive cases with minimal symptoms that continue on with their daily lives do put those with immunity issues at greater risk of severe illness, he said.
Everyone should stay alert for signs and symptoms of COVID-19, Crawford explained.
Core public health measures, such as getting vaccinated and boosted when you are eligible, getting tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms or an exposure, following your health care providers treatment recommendations, staying home and separating from others when recommended, and wearing masks, remain extremely useful to control the virus and surge of cases, she said.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio Two and a half years into the greatest pandemic most of us have ever known, life has mostly returned to normal. At this point, if you havent gotten COVID-19 at least once, youre in the minority.
But what if you get COVID-19 now? How long are you considered contagious? When is it safe to circulate?
Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK| The Shelby Star
New coronavirus cases leaped in North Carolina in the week ending Sunday, rising 12.6% as 33,932 cases were reported. The previous week had 30,130 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
North Carolina ranked eighth among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 7.4% from the week before, with 906,593 cases reported. With 3.15% of the country's population, North Carolina had 3.74% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 28 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Cleveland County reported 369 cases and one death in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 326 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 32,047 cases and 406 deaths.
Within North Carolina, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Richmond County with 587 cases per 100,000 per week; Duplin County with 552; and Chowan County with 545. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Mecklenburg County, with 3,897 cases; Wake County, with 3,434 cases; and Guilford County, with 1,339. Weekly case counts rose in 77 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Mecklenburg, Forsyth and Guilford counties.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
Across North Carolina, cases fell in 22 counties, with the best declines in Cumberland County, with 1,264 cases from 1,453 a week earlier; in Durham County, with 1,130 cases from 1,235; and in McDowell County, with 124 cases from 187.
In North Carolina, 48 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 40 people were reported dead.
A total of 2,983,130 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 25,483 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 91,316,648 people have tested positive and 1,029,926 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, July 31. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Hospitals in 24 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 21 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 30 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
WASHINGTON President Biden left isolation on Sunday morning after a weeklong rebound case of Covid-19, heading to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware for a short getaway before resuming official travel.
The president appeared in good spirits as he emerged from the White House in the early morning hours without a tie and headed to Marine One for the flight to the beach. Im feeling good, he told reporters.
The White House said that Mr. Biden had tested negative for the coronavirus for a second consecutive day before leaving the White House. He will safely return to public engagement and presidential travel, Dr. Kevin C. OConnor, the White House physician, said in a memo released by the White House.
Mr. Biden originally tested positive for the coronavirus on July 21 and experienced a sore throat, a runny nose, a cough, body aches and fatigue. After five days of isolation and a regimen of the antiviral treatment Paxlovid, he tested negative and returned to the Oval Office, only to test positive again several days later and go back into isolation. He tested negative again on Saturday, and Dr. OConnor said the president would wait until a second negative result to emerge from isolation.
While he has tried to maintain a schedule of public appearances via video feed from the White House residence, Mr. Biden has been eager to return to the political fray in person at a time when he has scored some significant successes and wants to translate them into public support heading into the fall midterm campaigns.
The Senate was in session overnight as it moved toward passage of a long-delayed, slimmed-down version of Mr. Bidens domestic legislation, which will be a major victory if it reaches his desk.
The president expressed confidence that the Senate would approve the measure, which includes the nations largest investment in climate change and energy initiatives as well as a plan to lower the cost of prescription drugs, expanded health care subsidies and a minimum tax on corporations that have otherwise paid little to nothing. I think its going to pass, Mr. Biden told reporters.
The presidents beach trip will not last long. Anticipating a second negative test result, the White House had already scheduled a trip for the president and the first lady to visit Kentucky on Monday to examine flood damage.
