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WPCNR YOUR LOCAL EPIDEMIOLOGIST BY DR.KATELYN JETELINA. September 7, 2022. Reprinted with permission.

Yesterday, the White House announced a new plan: one COVID-19 shot per year. The idea is this will decrease public confusion and increase booster uptake by aligning with the flu vaccine campaign. Reading between the lines, I think this is also a political signal to shift out of the SARS-CoV-2 emergency phase.

Will an annual shot plan work? Maybe. But there’s a lot that needs to align beforehand. And I certainly hope this doesn’t mean we are accepting our current state of affairs with vaccines.

Stars need to align

The annual COVID-19 plan largely follows our flu model: evaluate circulating strains and update the vaccine before the flu season. This model works for the flu for three main reasons:

1. Flu is clearly seasonal. The predictability of the flu allows us to time vaccine recommendations so that vaccine companies can manufacturer and distribute by winter. A 6-month flu season also means that we really only need our flu to cover the winter months. In other words, the vaccine can wane, particularly among older populations.
2. Flu mutations have direction. As I have written before, the flu mutates in a ladder-like pattern. This allows us to “predict” the direction the flu may be mutating.
3. Flu has been around for decades, which has allowed us to develop and refine global surveillance systems to identify emerging strains.

SARS-CoV-2 is mutating 4 times faster than the flu.

It’s not seasonal nor annual.

It’s not mutating in a ladder like form.

And we do not have global surveillance systems in place.

We expect and hope that COVID-19 will eventually be like the flu but to assume that has already happened is premature.

I also think it is a gamble, as the virus continues to surprise us. To pivot the public—again—is risky.

The fall bivalent vaccine is also our first attempt to apply the flu model to SARS-CoV-2. This is our pilot. And we really need to see how the pilot works in the “real world” before making sweeping declarations, like an annual shot. We need the data, the time, and the humility to tell. Let’s first get through winter.

Up our vaccine game

The annual COVID-19 booster plan also means the White House has one goal: prevent severe disease and death. And our first generation vaccines can do this well. In fact, the first generation vaccines saved an estimated 20 million lives across the globe in one year.

However, we can and should do better.

This does not mean boosting our way out of the pandemic, but it means leveraging innovation and science to develop next generation vaccines that last longer and/or prevent infection/transmission. This would have immense, positive ripple effects. It would slow transmission. It would slow viral mutations. It would slow morbidity (long COVID-19). It could sunset the pandemic.

Next generation vaccines include:

• Mucosal vaccines. Nasal and/or oral vaccines would provide more protection against infection and transmission (i.e., sterilizing immunity). Thirteen nasal vaccines are currently in development. These work very differently from our current vaccines, as they target “mucosal” immunity. Mucosal tissue is all over our body, including our nose and throats. In fact, it’s the largest component of our immune system and is one of the first defenses with the elements in the real world. By providing immunity there (instead of deep within our circulatory system) we can prevent infection in the first place. Clinical trial data is incredibly promising, especially when used as a booster (opposed to the primary series). This week, China approved the world’s first inhaled booster against COVID-19 called Convidecia Air.
• Pancoronavirus vaccines. The next best thing to sterilizing immunity would be a variant-proof vaccine that lasts longer. As I’ve written before, there are several in development, but the one winning the race is from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research using “nanoparticle vaccine technology.” The vaccine presents a protein that looks like a soccer ball with many different faces. Each face presents instructions for a different part or version of a virus. We can include faces on it not just for SARS-CoV-2, but for other coronaviruses, too.
• Flu and COVID-19 combo vaccines. At the very least we need one vaccine that contains both the flu and COVID-19 vaccine formula. Earlier this year, Novavax released data on the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of its COVID-Influenza Combination Vaccine. Animal data showed this vaccine worked well, and currently 642 people aged 50-70 years old are in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial. If all goes well, a combo vaccine may be available by 2023 flu season. We need more options in case this one doesn’t make it through clinical trials.

These next generation vaccines are obtainable. We are well on our way, but this cannot be accomplished without investment from Congress.

It costs an estimated $1 billion to develop and test a drug or vaccine from start to finish. And it takes risk, as not every vaccine makes it through clinical trials. Money will move mountains in science and research. But we need a push from the public, and a push from the administration. We need an Operation Warp Speed 2.0.

Bottom line

The White House plans to have only one booster per year. This plan may (or may not) be a good one, as the stars would need to align for it to be effective. Regardless, next generation vaccines need to be a part of this conversation, as they are a critical solution for better health. We just need to fight for it.

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Pleas Follow Filing of Criminal Information Alleging Defendants Stole Property Belonging to Immediate Family Member of a Then-Former Government Official

WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. September 7, 2022:

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that AIMEE HARRIS and ROBERT KURLANDER pled guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property involving the theft of personal belongings of an immediate family member of a then-former government official who was a candidate for national political office.  HARRIS and KURLANDER pled guilty Wednesday before United States Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave and will be sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “Harris and Kurlander stole personal property from an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office.  They sold the property to an organization in New York for $40,000 and even returned to take more of the victim’s property when asked to do so.  Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from their theft of another person’s personal property, and they now stand convicted of a federal felony as a result.”  

FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll said:  “As they’ve admitted with today’s pleas, the defendants conspired to steal an individual’s personal property, which they subsequently sold to a third party and delivered across state lines.  As a consequence of their actions, they now face punishment in the federal criminal justice system for their crimes.  I’d like to thank the Public Corruption Units at both the FBI’s New York Office and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for their dedicated effort in this case.”  

According to the Information and statements made in court:

In or about September 2020, HARRIS and KURLANDER conspired to steal, transport across state lines, and sell personal property that belonged to an individual (the “Victim”) whom HARRIS and KURLANDER knew was an immediate family member of a then-former government official who was a candidate for national political office. 

The Victim had stored the property, including a handwritten journal containing highly personal entries, tax records, a digital storage card containing private family photographs, and a cellphone, among other things, in a private residence in Delray Beach, Florida, at which HARRIS was temporarily residing. 

After HARRIS stole the property, she enlisted KURLANDER to help her facilitate its sale.  HARRIS and KURLANDER then made contact with an employee of an organization based in Mamaroneck, New York (the “Organization”), who instructed them to use an encrypted application to communicate with the Organization and requested photographs of the Victim’s property. 

After receiving the photographs, the Organization offered to pay for HARRIS and KURLANDER’s transportation of the property from Florida to New York City.  HARRIS and KURLANDER subsequently traveled to New York City with the Victim’s property at the Organization’s expense and met with employees of the Organization. 

During that meeting, HARRIS described the circumstances of how she had obtained the Victim’s property, provided the property to the Organization, and disclosed that the Victim had stored additional property in the residence where HARRIS continued to have access. 

After the meeting, and at the Organization’s request, HARRIS and KURLANDER returned to Florida to obtain more of the Victim’s property in order to provide it to the Organization.  They later met with an Organization employee in Florida and gave that employee more of the Victim’s stolen property, believing that the Organization would transport or cause the transport of the stolen property from Florida to the Organization’s offices in New York, which the Organization subsequently did.  The Organization subsequently paid HARRIS and KURLANDER each $20,000 for the stolen property.

*                *                *

AIMEE HARRIS, 40, of Palm Beach, Florida, and ROBERT KURLANDER, 58, of Jupiter, Florida, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison. 

The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge. 

Under the terms of their plea agreements, HARRIS and KURLANDER each agreed to forfeit $20,000, and KURLANDER agreed to cooperate with the Government.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Jacqueline C. Kelly, Robert B. Sobelman, and Mitzi S. Steiner are in charge of the prosecution.

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WPCNR MOVING FORWARD. By Paul Feiner, Greenburgh Town Supervisor. September 5, 2022:

ON Labor day learn more about the Westchester Cooperative Network.

This network promotes and supports the development of worker owned cooperatives in Westchester County. Check their website. And, listen to the interview (link below) with Delia Marx, founder of the network.

Worker owned coops exist around the nation but not in Westchester. Delia would love to start a coop in Greenburgh and in the county. The cooperative network is currently offering a limited number of grants of up to $10,000 to groups whose business mission aligns with the seven cooperative principles. The cooperative network accepts applications on a rolling basis.

Do you have a business idea? Are you willing to put in the time and effort to bring it to fruition? Can you gather a group of people to work together? The Westchester Cooperative Network helps residents find the necessary training, legal assistance and financial support. This could be a great opportunity.

PAUL FEINER

Greenburgh Town Supervisor

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Biography from Wikipedia:

Eugene Victor “Gene” Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States.^[1] Through his presidential candidacies as well as his work with labor movements, Debs eventually became one of the best-known socialists living in the United States.

Debs quit school at 14 in Terre Haute, Indiana, to work on the railroad and became a fireman on the railroad in 1870 at age 15.

Early in his political career, Debs was a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected as a Democrat to the Indiana General Assembly in 1884.

After working with several smaller unions, including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, Debs led his union in a major ten-month strike against the CB&Q Railroad in 1888.

Debs was instrumental in the founding of the American Railway Union (ARU), one of the nation’s first industrial unions.

After workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company organized a wildcat strike over pay cuts in the summer of 1894, Debs signed many into the ARU. He led a boycott by the ARU against handling trains with Pullman cars in what became the nationwide Pullman Strike, affecting most lines west of Detroit and more than 250,000 workers in 27 states.

Purportedly to keep the mail running, President Grover Cleveland used the United States Army to break the strike. As a leader of the ARU, Debs was convicted of federal charges for defying a court injunction against the strike and served six months in prison.

In prison, Debs read various works of socialist theory and emerged six months later as a committed adherent of the international socialist movement. Debs was a founding member of the Social Democracy of America (1897), the Social Democratic Party of America (1898) and the Socialist Party of America (1901). Debs ran as a Socialist candidate for President of the United States five times, including 1900 (earning 0.6 percent of the popular vote), 1904 (3.0 percent), 1908 (2.8 percent), 1912 (6.0 percent), and 1920 (3.4 percent), the last time from a prison cell.

He was also a candidate for United States Congress from his native state Indiana in 1916.

Debs was noted for his oratorical skills, and his speech denouncing American participation in World War I led to his second arrest in 1918. He was convicted under the Sedition Act of 1918 and sentenced to a ten-year term. President Warren G. Harding commuted his sentence in December 1921. Debs died in 1926, not long after being admitted to a sanatorium due to cardiovascular problems that developed during his time in prison.

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WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. By Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. September 5, 2022:

Greenburgh Currently Suffers Moderate Drought Period as Reservoirs Deplete 

As you may notice from your browning grass and trees that are already looking like Autumn, we are severely low on rainfall this summer. The upstate reservoir network that provides our greater metropolitan area drinking water is under its normal capacity, so when you try to save your lawn or overuse water in other ways in your home or business, you risk further depleting our precious drinking water resources. 

Current conditions in Westchester County:

·         100% of the county has gone from “abnormally dry” status to being classified as in a “moderate drought” period. This means that crop growth is stunted, planting is delayed, fire danger is elevated, gardens begin to wilt, and lawns brown early. In a drought, irrigation use increases, hay and grain yields are lower than normal, honey production declines, wildfires and ground fires increase.

·         21.71% of Westchester is in a severe drought period. This means that specialty crops are impacted in both yield and fruit size, and air quality is poor. 

The Town of Greenburgh is currently in a moderate drought period. 

What can you do to use less water, and have a positive impact during this time of drought?

The following home practices can ease the burden on your local water supply and save money in the process:

1.    Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth and washing your face. 

2.    Only run the washing machine and dishwasher when you have a full load.

3.    Use a low-flow shower head and faucet aerators.

4.    Fix leaks.

5.    Install a dual-flush or low-flow toilet or put a conversion kit on your existing toilet.

6.    Don’t overwater your lawn or water during peak periods, and install rain sensors on irrigation systems.

7.    Install a rain barrel to collect water for outdoor watering.

8.    Plant a rain garden for catching stormwater runoff from your roof, driveway, and other hard surfaces.

9.    Monitor your water usage on your water bill and ask your local government about a home water audit.

10. Share your knowledge about saving water through conservation and efficiency with your neighbors.

These water saving measures can have a big impact on water demand in local communities. While saving money, you also have the opportunity to get involved in your local community, protect the water in your local waterways so you can continue to enjoy their recreational benefits, and get to know your home and family with a few do-it-yourself projects!

Did you know that…

_30 to 60% of domestic drinking water is used to water yards and gardens, and often large portions are wasted by over-watering, evaporation, and misdirected sprinklers that water sidewalks and driveways.

_The average U.S. per capita water use is 170 gallons per day (gpd). Compare that to 36 gpd in Australia, with better efficiency measures in place but still enjoying the same quality of life. 

*For more information on drought conditions/effects and how to conserve water, you can visit the resources we used in this article: 

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/reservoir-levels.page

https://www.drought.gov/states/new-york/county/westchester

https://data.indystar.com/drought/new-york/westchester-county/36119/

https://planning.westchestergov.com/environment/water-conservation/drought-emergency-plan

https://www.americanrivers.org/rivers/discover-your-river/top-10-ways-for-you-to-save-water-at-home/

PAUL FEINER

Greenburgh Town Supervisor