Malmstrom Air Force Base
FACEBOOK LIVE4 FEBRUARY 202139th COVID VIRTUAL TOWN HALL team MALMSTROM! colonel feugate opperman here with doc salzman TO give you the latest. First off, we improved our ability to care for Airmen and families by getting our COVID vaccination program engaged as soon as we returned from the holidays. I know Doc is going to want to speak more on that soon.Thanks to the med group and all our commanders and chiefs for helping to make this important milestone happen, enhancing our health and readiness.Col. Pomerinke, the Med Group commander, is having a special Facebook Live virtual town hall next wednesday on the 10th OF FEBRUARY at 5 PM to talk specifically about COVID-19 vaccinations. He’ll also have several of our medical experts on hand to help answer your questions. Some quick reminders about the vaccine before we get into our other information…all of us need to keep up the most basic protection measures of handwashing, distancing, and mask-wearing, even if you’ve received the vaccine and/or TESTED POSITIVE AT ALL.we are vaccinating ACCORDING TO THE DOD PHASED PLAN AND AT THIS TIME WE HAVE PROVIDED OVER 1,500 first DOSES TO active duty service members, government civilians, contractors and TRICARE benficiaries 65 years of age and older.right now we are vaccinating active duty service members, government civilians, contractors and TRICARE benficiaries 65 years of age and older. STARTING NEXT WEEK THE MDG WILL MOVE TO APPOINMENT BASED VACCINATIONS IN THE IMMUNIZATION CLINIC AND WILL EXPAND TO AUTHORIZED PERSONS AGED 18-64 WITH AN INCREASED RISK FOR SEVERE ILLNESS. TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT CALL 731-4633. If you are not in these groups pleasE be patient -- we will communicate updated groups and times using our online and social media channels.vaccine quantities are expected to be distributed on a rolling delivery basis as more vaccines become available. WE EXPECT TO receive 100-200 DOSES WEEKLY OVER THE NEXT 4 TO 6 WEEKS. we ANTICIPATE this to be a months-long process.local dining restrictionsnothing has changed with respect to our local dining restrictions.military members can still dine indoors provided they have tables spaced at least 6 feet apart. military still cannot go to bars/casinos/theaters at all, and you must leave restauarants by 8pm.we define a restaurant as an establishment whose primary purpose is food service and has an attached kitchen. Leave/travelcommanders are tasked with balancing risk with mission execution and airmen wellness. RoM may be shortened by the commander by considering a variety of factors and accepting increased risk to the unit.check the maps and travel restrictions at your destination before you go—some locations are now requiring a negative covid test before they let you enter. Check the maps again when you return to determine the status of the area you’re traveling to so that you know what to expect in terms of post-travel actions.TESTING/contact tracingCall 731-4MED for A testing time if you feel sick, if you’ve been told by the city public health team, or if you’re a contact and you’re not sure when to come.EVERYONE WHO IS A TRICARE BENEFICARY is highly encouraged to GET TESTED IN OUR LINE at the clinic on base—IT’S FASTER AND WE CAN CONTACT TRACE MORE QUICKLYagain, please call before coming through the drive thru or the clinic as we are conducting testing by appointment only. IF YOUR ROOMMATE OR DEPENDENT IS SICK—STAY AT HOME! IF THEY GOT TESTED FOR COVID, PLEASE DON’T COME BACK TO WORK UNTIL THE RESULT COMES BACK NEGATIVE.Everyone must continue to wear masks in all buildings and vehicles. No change to the limited exceptions.Remember Parents need to stay home with quarantined kids – the only exception to this is if parent has tested positive and recovered in the last 90 days.MDG covid vaccinations update (08:10)iF YOU FEEL SICK WITH SYPTOMS LIKE RUNNY NOSE, SHORT OF BREATH OR JUST FEEL OFF, PLEASE COME AND SEE US AT THE CLINIC. THIS IS FOR A COUPLE OF REASONS. WE CAN TREAT YOU FASTER. wE CAN DECREASE YOUR EXPOSURE DOWNTOWN. WE’D LIKE TO KEEP YOU SEPARATE FROM SICK PEOPLE IN the EMERGENCY ROOM. “LIFE, LIMB OR EYESIGHT” GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM BUT IF YOU CAN WAIT A FEW HOURS COME SEE US AT YOUR AVAILABILITY AND we’ll MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ADDRESS YOUR NEEDS APPROPRIATELY.AS FAR AS COVID GOES WE’RE DOING REALLY WELL SO THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING THE RULES AND WEARING YOUR MASK AND MAINTAINING SOCIAL DISTANCE BECAUSE IT IS REALLY MAKING A DIFFERENCE. THAT BEING SAID, WE’RE VACCINATING AGAINST THE U.S. VARIANT OF COVID AND WE HAVE OTHER VARIANTS APPROACHING US. WE HAVE TO BE MINDFUL THAT MASKING AND SOCIAL DISTANCING WON’T GO AWAY RIGHT AWAY. WE STILL NEED TO BE VIGILANT. THESE NEW VARIANTS MAY STILL INFECT YOU AFTER YOU GET COVID OR AFTER YOU GET THE VACCINE.AS FOR VACCINATIONS, I’VE REACHED OUT TO EVERY SQUADRON NOW AND WE TALK ABOUT RISKS AND BENEFITS. I AM A FULL DISCLOSURE KIND OF DOC. YOU’RE GOING TO HEAR IT ALL: RISKS AND BENEFITS AND WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW, AND WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET. OVERALL THE VACCINE HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE SAFE FOR THE GREATER MAJORITY OF PEOPLE AND VERY PROTECTIVE AGAINST COVID, ESPECIALLY THE U.S. VARIANT. IN MOST CASES IT IS A VERY GOOD IDEA. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO AREN’T SURE IT IS A GREAT IDEA TO GIVE US A CALL OR WALK INTO THE MED GROUP AND TALK ONE-ON-ONE WITH EITHER YOUR PROVIDER OR ONE OF OUR SCREENERS AND WE CAN GO OVER YOUR SPECIFIC SITUATION TO HELP YOU GET ALL THE INFORMATION TO MAKE YOUR CHOICE. IN GENERAL WE CAN SUPPORT ANY ACTIVE DUTY MEMBER WHO IS READY TO COME IN AND GET THEIR SHOT OR MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. NOW IS THE TIME. IF YOU’D LIKE TO SEE US COME SEE US AT THE MED GROUP. IF WE DON’T HAVE SHOTS AVAILABLE ON THAT DAY WE’LL TAKE YOUR NAME AND NUMBER AND CALL YOU AS SOON AS IT COMES IN SO YOU CAN BE THE FIRST IN LINE.WE’LL GET TO THE FAMILY MEMBERS AS QUICKLY AS WE CAN. THE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO HAVE UNDERLINING CONDITIONS, WE’LL START REACHING OUT TO THEM NEXT WEEK.q: Some people are reluctant to get the vaccine because of Adverse reactions. how do you balance vaccine vs. adverse reactions? (11:40)A: it may help you to understand why you are feeling cruddy. when we give you the vaccine we are not giving you the whole virus. imagine the ball you see in all the pictures, and it has some dNA rna coding in there, and it has little spikes on the outside. the spikes are what help it bind to your cells to invade. so the vaccine is a messenger rna, it’s a copy, it’s a blueprint, it’s a recipe card for the spike. we give you the messenger rna and your body builds this protien which is the spike. there’s nothing inside it’s just the spike. when your body builds this protien it doesn’t know what to do with it so it destroys it and makes antibodies to look around and see if there are any others. when your immune system turns on it makes you feel warm because it works better in a warm environment, and it sometimes makes you feel cruddy wherever it is responding because it wants you to slow down and use your energy to respond to what it is doing. as soon as your body clears those protiens that it made that it doesn’t need, you go back to feeling normal just because your immune system says “I took care of it now.” that response is three out of ten people and usually takes 24-36 hours to comlete if that happens to you. So if you feel cruddy it’s because your immune system is turning on most likely, and it should go away 24-36 hours later. you can take a tylenol and take a nap and in most cases you’ll wake up feeling better. if those symptoms persist beyond that timeframe we should look to see if you had a covid infection or another infection that was there before you got your shot and we didn’t realize it. but again those side effects for three out of ten people will feel like covid: headache, tired, maybe your muscles are achey, or maybe you are short of breath, or maybe you have a stomach ache and you want to go to bed, that’s okay to do. you should let your commander know you got the shot and you don’t feel good and you’d like to go home and they should let you go home.Q: and normally that clears after a day or so?A: Yes. 24-36 hours and then you feel better. if you don’t feel better in that time then something else was going on when you got your shot. you can call us and we’ll help you feel better.Questions (15:00)q: what is the current policy for social gatherings on base and in base housing? is it back to normal or is it still restricted? A: it is still restricted. we’re always re-evaluating when it makes sense to change restrictions. that is something we will re-evaluate next week to see if it makes sense to increase the size of social gatherings. it won’t be (most likely) back to normal. it will still be a restricted size i suspect. but we will look at that to see what makes sense.Q: will there be updated guidance released regarding the federal building mask update?A: as many of you know, president biden issued an executive order that has us all wearing masks no matter what on federal property and installations. in speaking to the counterparts across the majcom we’re pretty much doing all of that right now. so masks in your buildings. if you are alone in your office or appropriately social distanced in a work area you can take off your mask to do what you need to do as long as you put it back on when you are done. and that is appropriate. really the policy hasn’t changed but now everyone has the same policy.Clarification: Essentially we were doing it all along and the rest of the federal government may have caught up with us.Q: Will the vaccine make me sterile? A: I have not seen anything on that and i read every day about this. i think unless it were injected directly into the scrotum (which we would not do) i don’t think it is possible. it doesn’t make sense for the medical science for it to be feasible and we haven’t seen any reports about it in the current the statistical analysis or effects reporting. i’d say you are pretty safe.Q: is there a concern that the vaccine may cause autism?A: also no. we’ve just proven that in hundreds of studies that vaccines in general do not cause autism, that’s something you’re born with and we discover as we miss milestones in aging. I don’t think it is possible for this vaccine to do that either.Q: will i still have to rom if i have been vaccinated?A: one of the things we have done when people have recovered from covid is we recognize you’ve seen covid, you’ve recovered, and so you have working strong antibody response and we don’t think you are contagious nor can you reinfect. However when you are vaccinated you haven’t seen covid. you’ve only seen that spike protien. so you have antibodies that will recognize an invader and maybe clear it more quickly but that doesn’t mean you can’t get covid. it’s like the flu shot where you could still get the flu but it will be more mild. you can still get covid but it will be more mild. because of that we still need to monitor for your risk exposures when you are travelling and rom accordingly.Q: so the reason for rom is in the event you have picked up covid on your travels, you don’t pass it on to somebody else?A: Exactly.Q: if i have been vaccinated will i still be contact traced?A: Yes. you will be contact traced only becauase you may become an asymptomatic carrier. if your friend became sick and you were near them you might also become sick but not feel any symptoms because the vaccine works really well. the science hasn’t shown that you’ll be safe from spreading it. until science says it can’t be spread around we need to be conscietious and mindful to protect our mission capabilities.Q: we know the vaccine is safe to give. we’re still learning all of the benefits it may give us. is that accurate?A: Exactly. One of things that was done in the early studies was show people who had been vaccinated had much decrease of severity of illness. that alone made it worth reaching out to give it an emergency use authorization. people won’t be as sick if they get it so we can decrease our mortality rate, and enable providers and hospitals to save the people who need to be saved. but there are some things they didn’t test. they didn’t test all the people that didn’t report any symptoms to see if they were asymptomatic carriers or if the vaccine worked so well that they didn’t carry covid anymore which would be great. because we are not sure we need proof before we can act on that because our mission is so important and each member is so critical we can’t afford to lose them. we need to act like we could be asymptomatic carriers until we are sure we are not.Q: Why should i get the mask if i still have to wear a mask and social distance?A: initially we’ll still wear masks because we could still be asymptomatic carriers. we’ll wait for the science to come out to either prove that we’re not, or reach threshold of herd immunity. Herd immunity is a calculated number based on how transmissable or infectious this disease is, how fatal it is, what we have to treat it with, those kind of things. right now for what we have, the u.S. variant, we’re reaching for a 75 percent herd immunity. when we get that i would say we could safely walk back our risk mitigation and so take off our masks and go to the movies and have some fun. we’re not there yet. we need to work together. I’ll caveat that by saying if one of the strains coming from the U.K. or south america become dominant here we’re going to have to rethink that herd immunity number because those have different qualities and – at least in the case of the u.k. variant – are more infectious. that will affect our herd immunity threshold.Q: What is our herd immunity on the base?A: we’re approaching 20 percent. so far we’re making great progress. we’ve only been doing this about a month and we’re doing a really good job.Q: Does the vaccine reduce the amount of time that a person is contagious?A: from medical science, when you get sick the amount of time or duration of time it takes for your body to mount an effective immune response usually you are shedding that virus. other people can catch it. once your body has a good handle on your infection, your transmissability decreases. now that is in general. how long you are sick for has a big impact on how infectious you are and also how symptomatic you are. if you are coughing and sneezing everywhere you are potentially spreading more virus particles than if you just have the sniffles and that’s it. all that said I don’t have a number to give you buit medical training tells me that the shorter amount of time that you feel sick and the shorter amount of time until your immune system turns on, the shorter amount of time you are infectious.Q: will the vaccine potentially increase the infection rate as more people may be asymptomatic or contagious unknowingly?A: initially. if only half us decide to get the vaccine and we feel fine all the time, and we come to work because we feel fine, and we unknowingly breathe on our friends or sit by them at lunch, we could be potentially spreading covid. because we don’t know if the vaccine prevents spread, we have to assume it doesn’t until we’re sure. so it could potentially increase our risk initially. so what we would like to do is quickly get everyone vaccinated to protect as many people as possible. then if you and i are both vaccinated and we sit down to dinner we’re both safe.Q: What will determine as in numbers for restictions to be lifted? Base/county/state considerations?A: We are only in charge of the base, so our calculus should involve what is inside our walls – so what we can control -- and We can have a policy for what is inside the walls and if necessary a different policy for what is outside the walls so we’re safe. first and foremost we need to protect our airmen who do the mission. so if inside our walls, we can drop our numbers and increase our vaccination rate such that we are safe, we can potentially roll back our mask wear policy and things like that before the city does, knowing that when we go outside our walls we’ll still need to obey those rules. but in general we’re looking for that herd immunity threshold and that’s 75 percent. couching that, if we get to 75 percent and we take our masks off and we have a party, and people start to fall out, we may need to rethink that calculation missed the mark we need to aim for a higher number. for right now i think it is 75 percent and that is what the cdc is putting out, but it could change based on what we learn in the future.Q: is there any evidence that taking vitamin D, zinc, quercetin, turmeric, and curcumin help support immune function and may minimize covid symptoms?A: there is some evidence that people who are more healthy when they get infected do better. if you have a healthy immune system meaning your electrolytes are in balance, you’re well hydrated, you’re well rested, you’re well nourished, then your immune system will be at a higher level of functioning and more quickly able to mount a resistance to fight off those invaders. if you don’t eat fruits and vegetables, if you only drink soda, if you sleep four hours a night becaue you prefer to play video games, if you choose not to do PT unless you have to… there are some choices you can make that will definitely impact the strength of your immune system. those choices can impact your ability to fight off covid. those medicines – i wouldn’t say everyone go out and take those medicines because some people take too much and make themselves feel sick, and some people don’t need them. some people do. if you have questions whether or not you want to be on a vitamin or if you want to know what your levels are, definitely come see us at the med group. come see your provider and we’re happy to run some labs and see if you have deficiencies we can help you improve. but in general, if you don’t want to come see us, i would advise everybody to drink water, eat your fruits and vegetables, go to bed at the same time every night and shoot for seven to nine hours of sleep every night, and each day spend at least 20 minutes walking around because that helps your lymphatics move – your lymphatics are the gutter, and that helps drain the gutter because they don’t have a pump unless you are moving and the only way to get them moving along is if you go for a walk. so go out and get some fresh air.Q: are retirees going to be able to get the vaccine on base?A: Yes. some retirees are already getting it. it depends on the age of the retiree. we started 65 and older. we’ll move on to over 18 with comorbidities starting next week.Q: how will high risk dependents get the vaccine?A: starting next week we’ll have reached every military member who is interested in getting the vaccine I hope. we will start extending to our dependents 18 and over who have comorbidities so we can start increasing the immunity of our community. again, we’ve reached out and offered to everyone on the base in uniform and now it is time to start offering to dependents and family members. in general, comorbidities for ages 18-64 include diabeties, heart disease, asthma, those kinds of things. we’ll give you a full list(Active duty: if you previously haven’t expressed an interest in getting the vaccine but you’ve changed your mind, anytime we get the vaccine you are welcome to come in. you are always welcome to change your mind. Clinic is open 0730 to 1630 and you can come in any time.) Q: if active duty have gotten both doses of the vaccine, when will they be able to see or visit a red zone outside of montana?A: we’ll start by saying you can now. there is really no place that is out of bounds. it depends on conversations between you and your commander on balancing the risks in the event you need to rom.Q: if i got the vaccine, does that help my commander make a different decision about my travel risk?A: it will help your commander know that you yourself probably aren’t going to get sick. However, it doesn’t tell them that you aren’t going to bring illness back into the workplace. and especially knowing that those new variants which we don’t have a strong answer for are in almost every state east and west of us, we need to be mindful of bringing those potential germs into our face. so it’s a careful calculus and commanders have a big responsibility to decide what to do, but if you are able to come back and work in your own office with minimal interaction to others and you have high quality ppe on, you keep your mask on and wash your hands and are mindful, those are some things that can help.Q: Is there a plan for letting children back into the fitness center with parents?A: Funny you should ask. I was just over there. I know they are working on ways to safely allow parents and children to come in and in a way that keeps the kids from sharing too many germs but allows parents to get a good workout because i know that can be very helpful to keeping your head on straight. they are working on that and i think they have a pretty good plan in place and they just need to implement it. So i think it is on the near horizon.Q: if both of the vaccine doses have the same amount and are the same shot, why do people feel worse after the second dose than the first one?A: Great Question. when you get your first shot it is essentially priming your immune system. it’s showing your immunse system new and your immune system is smart. it’s not going to waste energy it doesn’t need to. it will divert a little bit of energy to addressing this very small problem of some unrecognized protiens in your shoulder. it’s going to divert some energy over there to make some antibodies and make a few extra more than it needs, and those will hang around for a little bit. but the second time you get the shot – 28 days, plus or minus four – that second dose same as the first one, your body says, “aha! this is a persistent problem i see!” so now your body makes a full-on persistent immune response. it develops antibodies that are going to stick around for a while. and because that is a more pronounced response, you tend to feel it a little bit more. closing (34:40)social security deferralremember, your social security tax deferral payments will now be spread out over the course of the whole year—this is good news since it should ease the impact of the paycheck withdrawals.black history monthI really encourage you to participate in the Black History Month activities happening this month on base. The Black History Committee has worked very hard to pull these events together, from movies to runs to jazz to education—events planned by Airmen, for Airmen—so I hope you’ll join us.FORCE SUPPORT SQUADRONthe fitness center remains single point of entry due to the new archery range. If you haven’t checked it out, see the fitness center front desk for a safety course and try out the new range!don’t forget first friday tomorrow from 3:41 to 6 PM and a weekend full of fss offerings. starting this saturday, the grizzly bend will be open from 6 PM to 12 AM so when you have to leave restaurants by 8 PM you still have an evening of fun, food, and music! the big game is on sunday, 7 feb at the grizzly bend and doors open 3:41. KICK OFF IS AT 4:30! If you want another option for the game, check out aces high from 1PM to 9PM for a seeded bowling tournament – sign up by tomorrow, 5 FEB by calling 731-2695.we had such a successful showing at last month’s ufc watch party, that there will be another on 13 feb. doors open at 5PM. come watch the world welterweight championship between usman and burns. and let’s not forget valentine’s day… the arts and crafts center is offering balloon bouquets for your special someone… or if you want one for yourself – for more information call 731-4700.THE FSS SINCERELY APPRECIATES YOUR SUPPORT AND FLEXIBILITY WITH OUR PROGRAMS AND OFFERINGS – THEY COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!ok wing one, thank you for remaining dedicated in our fight against covid and for keeping the mission going no matter what challenges come our way. I’m so grateful for your hard work and the way you’ve been such incredible wingmen throughout this whole time.Let’s keep taking care of each other! see you next time! ................
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