DENVER xe2x80x93 A Colorado police officer and a tattoo shop employee were in the hospital Thursday after a gunman injured them and fatally shot five others in a Denver-area killing spree that he foreshadowed in a dark series of self-published books.

Ashley Ferris, a three-year veteran of the Lakewood Police Department, underwent surgery at a local hospital and was in stable condition, surrounded by family, police said. Ferris confronted the gunmanxc2xa0Monday evening in a busy Lakewood shopping district, where he shot her in the abdomen.xc2xa0Ferris, on the ground, fired back, killing the man.

“All of us at the Lakewood Police Department are incredibly proud of Agent Ferris and the bravery shown by her and her fellow law enforcement officers during this active shooter situation,” Lakewood Police Chief Dan McCasky said in a statement Wednesday evening. “The entire Lakewood family will be here to support Agent Ferris and her family as she embarks on this recovery process.”

DENVER SHOOTING:Company published series of books that mirrored deadly rampage, named 2 victims

Jimmy Maldonado, a piercer at one of thexc2xa0tattoo shops targeted in the attack,xc2xa0was shot in the neck and shoulder area and remains in the hospital, he told the Denver Gazette on Wednesday.

His wife, former yoga instructor Alyssa Gunn Maldonado, 35, was killed in the shooting, along with four other people: tattoo artists Alicia Cardenas, 44, and Danny Schofield, 38;xc2xa0hotel clerk Sarah Steck, 28; and Michael Swinyard, 67.

Two of the shooter’s victims were named in a series of books published by a company he once owned. Authorities on Tuesday identified the gunman as Lyndon James McLeod, 47.

According to Colorado state business records, McLeod was the owner of Flat Black Ink, a Denver business that opened in 2005, was declared delinquent in 2017 and was listed as having a name change in 2018.

A business by the same name published a series of three books fromxc2xa02018 toxc2xa02020, according to an Amazon listing for the series and a Patreon link to an audiobook version, which were taken down Wednesday.

In the books, a main character named “Lyndon James MacLeod” brutally murders people inside a tattoo parlor along the same street as one of the shootings Monday, as well as a man named Michael Swinyard inxc2xa0a condo building near Denver’s Cheesman Park, where another of the shootings happened, according to a USA TODAY review of the books.

The character alsomurders a woman named Alicia Cardenas. He targets two more people with the same first names of two employees of Cardenas’ tattoo parlor, as well as a man with the same full name as another Denver-area tattoo artist who wasn’t killed in the attacks. The book also includes characters identified only as “Sarah” and “Danny.”

One of the tattoo parlors targeted in the shooting, World Tattoo Studio,xc2xa0now operates at the same Denver address listed for Flat Black Ink. World Tattoo owner Ian Lxc3xbctz told USA TODAY that one of the victims, Cardenas, previously owned the shop.

Denver Police are “aware” of the book series, which has become “a component of our ongoing homicide investigation,” the department told USA TODAY in a statement Wednesday.

McLeod was known to law enforcement and officers investigated him fromxc2xa0mid-2020 toxc2xa0early 2021, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen told reportersxc2xa0Tuesday. Neither investigation resulted in criminal charges, Pazen said. He would not give further details about the incidents.

McLeod had “personal” or “business” relationships with nearly all of the victims and “was targeting specific people,” Matt Clark, Denver police commander of the Major Crimes Division, said.

The incidentsxc2xa0erupted Monday evening in Denver, Clark said, when the gunman fatally shot Gunn Maldonado and Cardenas and wounded Maldonado inside Sol Tribe Tattoo & Piercing. Maldonado hid under a car in a parking lot after he was shot, he told the Denver Gazette.

Minutes later, at an address at or near another tattoo parlor, World Tattoo Studio, McLeod shot at people inside a hybrid residence-business, but no one was injured, Clark said. He then set a van on fire in the alley behind the business, Clark said.

Police received a call about the shooting, then another call minutes later, Clark said, after McLeod fatally shot Swinyard in his residence at One Cheesman Park.

McLeod was dressed as “a police officer in tactical gear with a police logo and badge and carrying a rifle” when he entered the lobby of the condo building, according toxc2xa0an email sent from property management to residents and obtained by USA TODAY.

Building manager Joshua Schroeder, who signed the email, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked about the email, axc2xa0spokesperson for Denver police said the department was “unable to provide further details” about the investigation.

Officers located McLeod minutes after he shot Swinyard and exchanged gunfire, but McLeod disabled the officers’ car and took off onto the highway, Clark said.

McLeod drove to Lakewood and fatally shot Schofield inside Lucky 13 Tattoo & Piercing, Lakewood Police spokesman John Romero said.

Romero said Lakewood police agents later found McLeod’s vehicle near or at a Wells Fargo bank in a busy shopping district, and officers exchanged gunfire before McLeod fled. The gunman then entered a nearby restaurant, where he threatened people with a gun but did not fire any shots or injure anyone, Romero said.

McLeod went around the corner to the nearby Hyatt House hotel, walked inside, had a “brief conversation” with the front desk worker, Steck, and shot her several times, Romero said.

Less than two minutes later, McLeod was walking through a shopping center when he encountered Ferris.

Steck, who worked at the Hyatt, was taken to the hospital Monday and died from her injuries Tuesday, police said. Police said McLeod had “previous interactions with the hotel” but not Steck, specifically.

Travis Leiker, president of Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, told USA TODAY he was in a meeting at his organizationxe2x80x99s office and community center next to One Cheesman Parkxc2xa0when he heard the gunshots Monday.

“I heard a pop, pop, pop,” Leiker said. First responders arrived within minutes and later taped off the area, Leiker said.

“The mood in Denver is of shock and concern,” he said. “There is a feeling of not being safe in our neighborhoods.”

Leiker said he was recently informed of the existence of McLeodxe2x80x99s books from a reporter. Leiker said it was strange to read the gunmanxe2x80x99s detailed description of the alleyway between the condo building and his organizationxe2x80x99s community center.

He said it was “abundantly clear”xc2xa0there was a “breakdown of communication” between law enforcement and residents and that residents should have been informed of the “looming threat.”

“Why or how were specific people named in a manifesto and properties, including our own, were cased as part of this writing and none of us knew anything about it?”xc2xa0Leiker said.

Members of the Colorado tattooing and body piercing community said they were shocked by the shootings and grieving the losses of beloved friends and colleagues. Several described Cardenas,xc2xa0one of the victims, as a groundbreaker who paved the way for women and people of color in the industry.

Cardenas was a tattooer, mural artist and cultural anthropologist who owned Sol Tribe Tattoo & Piercing, according to the shop’s website. The website describes Cardenas as a “true Denver Native” and a “proud Indigenous artist.” She is survived by her 12-year-old daughter.

Maldonadoxc2xa0is an Aztec dancer and Denver activist who works as a piercer at Sol Tribe, according to the shop’s website.xc2xa0His late wife,xc2xa0Gunn Maldonado,xc2xa0taught yoga at Sol Shine in Denver, according to a post on its Facebook page. She also said on her Instagram that she was a doula in Denver.

Schofield, another fatal victim, was a tattoo artist and Colorado native, according to the Lucky 13 website. He had been tattooing for about 15 years, according to the site. He was also known as Dano Blair. Schofield leaves behind three young children.

The Lakewood Police Department said it was setting up a resource center Thursday for anyone “affected by the senseless tragedy.” Trauma resources and mental health therapists would be available across from the Hyatt House, where Steck was killed, police said.

Denver and Lakewood police were also encouraging people to donate to a Colorado Healing Fund for the victims of the shootings. The fund was founded in 2018 in an effort to contribute to victims of mass casualty crimes in Colorado.

Monday’s rampage was the 13th mass shooting in Colorado this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence nationally using a combination of police statistics and media reports. The archive defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot, not including the shooter, at the same general time and location.

Contributing: Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

No one is safe until everyone is safe.xc2xa0The UN Refugee Agency

The stigmatization of people in South Africa with HIV has likely led to the Omicron variant state medical researchers in a Nature Study say.

People worried about their jobs, being beaten up or killed, and losing family and friends over their diagnosis are less likely to seek treatment. All over the world, particularly in South Africa, where the most significant number of people with HIV resides ( estimates are thatxc2xa0two out of three worldwide cases HIV cases), most of which are not taking anti-virals that can suppress the virus. People on anti-virals are slightly less susceptible than people that are fully vaccinated.xc2xa0

The variant sweeping across the world hasxc2xa0xe2x80x9c50 mutations, of whichxc2xa0at least 30Trusted Sourcexc2xa0are in the spike protein that the virus uses to gain entry to host cells. These mutations may affect how the variantxc2xa0behave trustedxc2xa0Source, spreads, and the severity of the disease it causesxe2x80x9d.

Outgoing NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea. Photo via CBS-TV New York.

Blaming the rise in violent crime on xe2x80x9cmisinformedxe2x80x9d efforts to overhaul the justice system, outgoing New York police commissioner Dermot Shea said authorities should stick with the kind of policies that were proven to keep people safe.

xe2x80x9cI can also tell you that more than 80 percent of the people arrested for illegal gun possession this year are not in custody. Does that sound like a formula for success?xe2x80x9d he wrote in an essay for the New York Post.

The essay, framed as advice to his incoming replacement, Keechant Sewell, on exactly what kind of job she is taking on in a city grappling with both a spike in crime and a department steeped in low morale, encouraged her to follow strategies that had already demonstrated success in crimefighting.

xe2x80x9cShe will have a hard enough job keeping nearly 9 million people safe with the tools we have,xe2x80x9d he wrote.xc2xa0 xe2x80x9cWhen I hear some officials say, xe2x80x98We canxe2x80x99t arrest our way out of our problems,xe2x80x99 I have to wonder: What problems are you talking about? If itxe2x80x99s opioid abuse, probably not; if itxe2x80x99s a rise in gang-related gun violence, if youxe2x80x99re not making arrests, youxe2x80x99re not addressing the problem.xe2x80x9d

Shea, who was appointed commissioner in 2019, said that as a result of focused policing policies introduced by his predecessors and continued by him, the department made 44 percent fewer arrests than they had five years before.

But in 2020, following the onset of sweeping changes to New Yorkxe2x80x99s legal system enacted by the state legislature, xe2x80x9cideology triumphed over expertise,xe2x80x9d he wrote.

Bail reform meant that only defendants charged with a narrow range of offenses could be held before trial. A defendantxe2x80x99s history of violence xe2x80x94 the best predictor of future violence xe2x80x94 could not be considered by a judge. Discovery reform required DAs to produce a vast amount of documentation, much of it which he called irrelevant, before proceeding with a prosecution.

Shea drew a connection between these changes and the fact that, in the first two months of 2020, major crime in New York City went up 23 percent.

xe2x80x9cDuring the past year and a half, all across the country, debates over criminal justice have been characterized by magical thinking, a wishful insistence that we can have public safety without police,xe2x80x9d Shea complained.

xe2x80x9cBudgets have been slashed. Resignations and retirements have further reduced police manpower. Morale is in a tailspin, which makes police recruitment xe2x80x94 particularly among young Black men xe2x80x94 especially challenging.xe2x80x9d

As proof that arrests often yield results, Shea points to the 1980s, when police departments around the country shifted away from a laissez-faire approach to drunk driving and, as a result,xc2xa0 alcohol-related vehicular fatalities fell by 52 percent. In the 90s, a comparable change took place with the approach to domestic violence, with a xe2x80x9cmust arrestxe2x80x9d approach to acts of physical injury by an intimate partner, resulting in a 65 percent reduction in domestic violence victimization rates between 1995 and 2015.

And while Shea agreed that we should have better preventative programs to put young people on a path to school and career success, and to interrupt violence before it happens, he warns that investments like these will take years to yield positive results and that many people today do not have that kind of time.

Many criminologists counter the arguments made by critics like Shea, pointing out that the evidence shows no correlation between bail reform and increasing crime rates.xc2xa0 In most categories other than violence, crime rates have continued to decline.

See also:xc2xa0 The Danger of a Return to Crime Alarmism, The Crime Report. Nov 23, 2021.

The government coalition’s agreement was right to dedicate one of its longest sections to Russia. In addition to friendly words that attest to the depth and diversity of German-Russian relations, there is clear criticism of Russia’s aggressive actions towards its neighbors.xc2xa0

There are direct references to “attempts to destabilize Ukraine, the violence in eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea” as well as the “comprehensive restriction of civil and democratic freedoms.” In simple terms: Russia is waging a psychological, hybrid war that is not limited to Ukraine and neighboring countries xe2x80x94 and is an increasing threat to the West.

Recent developments paint a grim picture. Nuclear-capable Russian bombers are being intercepted by NATO fighter jets over the North Sea. The Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko is using refugees to blackmail the EU, with the backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the Russian-Ukrainian border, the Kremlin has amassed close to 100,000 soldiers and heavy artillery. Cyber attacks on Ukraine and the EU are the order of the day.

Don’t abandon Ukraine again

A Russian invasion of Ukraine, reminiscent of the 2014 incursion, is a real possibility. Seven years ago, Europe and the United States left Ukraine in the lurch. But they can and should be at Kyiv’s side now. Appeasement of the Kremlin would have disastrous consequences xe2x80x94 for the whole of Europe, not just Ukraine.xc2xa0

Security expert Oliver Rolofs

To shield Ukraine, Germany and other allies must understand that Russian aggression is not limited to tanks and troops. The Kremlin’s hostilities towards Ukraine run deep and are part of a broader pattern of belligerence, which includes energy blackmail and economic warfare.xc2xa0

Russia is using gas as a political weapon at a time when Europe is hit by a crippling energy crunch. This is not a new tactic and Ukraine is by no means the only victim: last month, Moscow weaponized the energy card to discourage the new pro-EU Moldovan government from strengthening links to the bloc.xc2xa0

Beyond pipeline politics, Russia has threatened Ukraine’s territorial integrity through underhand economic warfare aimed at forcing the Ukrainian government into a financial cul-de-sac. These pressure tactics have included tightening customs procedures leading to long delays for exporters at the border, imposing import bans for Ukrainian products and launching campaigns to shutter factories in eastern Ukraine.xc2xa0

According to estimates by the Atlantic Council, a think tank, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Eastern Ukraine has cost Ukraine at least $100 billion (xe2x82xac88 billion). This, of course, is just the stone-cold economic analysis. The human toll has been far greater, with 14,000 dead and counting.xe2x80xafxc2xa0

Is the EU willing and able to act?

The EU has the tools and political muscle to push back xe2x80x94 but can it act swiftly and decisively enough? The EU needs to carve out a new strategic framework for dealing with Russia. In the first instance, Brussels should unpack its regulatory toolbox and continue the diversification and unbundling of energy markets.xc2xa0

Working in tandem with France, the German government should open the door to tighter regulation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and strong-arm Gazprom into supplying gas to the Russian-Ukrainian border. The recent move to suspendxc2xa0Nord Stream 2’s operationsxc2xa0by Germany’s energy regulator sends a powerful, albeit overdue, message to the Kremlin that its bullying tactics will no longer go unchecked. The EU’s Green Deal to meet itsxc2xa0ambitious climate targets can also be used as a pressure point. Climate change creates new geopolitical realities that, over time, will cost Russia lucrative sources of income and its main means of influence.

Berlin and Paris should also redouble efforts to revive the Normandy Format, a negotiation platform bringing together the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.xc2xa0

Sending a clear message to Russia

While pushing back against Russian aggression, the EU must also make sure that the Ukrainian government has the necessary support to stay on course. If left alone, there is a high risk that the country could once again fall prey to politically active oligarchs such as Viktor Medvedchuk and former President Petro Poroshenko, who are opening the door to the Russians at a time when a united front is crucial.

The German government should use its communication channels with Moscow to draw clear red lines which drill home the cost of Russian aggression. Europe faces a long, cold winter if the combined diplomatic and economic power of the EU, the USxc2xa0and the UKxc2xa0fails to deter Russia.

Edited by: Rob Mudge

Oliver Rolofs is a security expert. He was previously the head of communications at the Munich Security Conference, where he established the Energy Security Program.

OPINION:

Two recent and unconnected revelations demonstrate that the deep state remains engaged, deceptive and dangerous.

Here is the backstory.

The deep state consists of those parts of the government that do not change in response to elections and are not transparent or answerable to voters.

This generally includes the intelligence and law enforcement communities, the military and diplomatic communities, and central bankers. Each has its private sector collaborators.

Some would include the judiciary. As a former member of the judiciary from one of the four states that grant life tenure to judges, I do not consider judges in the same category as CIA, FBI and other thugs xe2x80x94 armed or flush with cash xe2x80x94 who have their own secret agendas.

With the sole exception of the unconstitutional Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, judges operate in public courtrooms. Whatever they do is reduced to writing and subject to an appeal or public criticism.

The deep state is well below the visible parts of government and rarely subject to public scrutiny. Its budgets are secret. And its power is rarely subject to appeal of any sort. Its two most notorious members xe2x80x94 and the two that tormented former President Donald J. Trump xe2x80x94 are intelligence and law enforcement. And the two best known in those communities are the CIA and the FBI.

Readers of this column know that the CIA tortures people in foreign lands, believing that somehow torture committed outside the United States cannot subject its officers to prosecution. We know this because of recent revelations in hearings in the military courtrooms at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

There have been no full jury trials there since the inception 20 years ago of this George W. Bush-inspired modern-day Devilxe2x80x99s Island. Still, there have been hearings with juries to determine the punishment of those who have pleaded guilty to federal crimes.

In one of those hearings, we learned of four years of torture of a foreign national at the hands of the CIA, only to have its officers reveal their opinion that the torture was useless as the victim was telling the truth before, during and after they repeatedly invaded his body cavities and nearly froze him to death in a walk-in refrigerator/freezer.

These revelations were not challenged by the military and civilian prosecutors.

There are many CIA actions that the agency wishes we did not know about, such as the wars it has fought, its physical presence in every statehouse in the U.S. and its domestic spying on Americans without search warrants. When Gen. David Petraeus was the director of the CIA, he admitted in a talk he thought was secret, but which was secretly recorded, that the CIA has access to all microchips in your home.

Thus, if you own a microwave oven, the CIA is quite literally in your kitchen. If you use a cellphone or drive a car, the CIA quite literally goes wherever you do.

No statute authorizes CIA torture or domestic spying. In fact, the Constitution and treaties to which the U.S. is a signatory and federal statutes prohibit both types of behavior. Yet, CIA agents engage in criminal behavior because they can xe2x80x94 and because they know that they can get away with it.

Over the Christmas holiday, CIA officials leaked to friendly reporters at CNN their determination to overhaul their network of spies, cease paramilitary actions xe2x80x94 which presumably include torture xe2x80x94 and return to the xe2x80x9cquiet statecraftxe2x80x9d of spying on xe2x80x9cadversariesxe2x80x9d like China and Russia. Then the CIA learned that it has failed to recruit enough Mandarin and Russian-speaking agents to do so. Criminal and inept.

We also learned shortly before the Christmas holiday from testimony at Guantanamo Bay that nine FBI agents were formally transferred to the CIA so that theyxe2x80x99d be free to engage in torture themselves without damaging the reputation of the FBI. CIA agents apparently donxe2x80x99t care about their employerxe2x80x99s reputation the way their bosses do.

During the Christmas holiday, former FBI agents revealed that they and others had secretly gone undercover and pretended to be part of the mobs that engaged in the riots in 2020 in Portland, Oregon. There, 200 folks were arrested in a six-month period and charged with various crimes, ranging from unlawful assembly to obstruction of justice to using violence to destroy government property.

When FBI agents go undercover, their task is to blend in with the folks they are secretly monitoring. That often means committing the same crimes as these folks. Thus, 100 of the 200 cases were dropped because the FBI agents who were sent to join the mob and pretended to be part of it failed adequately to chronicle what they saw.

Or so their now-retired former colleagues say. We will, of course, never know the true reasons why these cases were dropped. Nor will we know which of these crimes were actually provoked or committed by FBI agents.

We know from reports by the inspector general of the Department of Justice for 2020, and from courtroom files in the FBI-created conspiracy to kidnap the governor of Michigan, that the FBI never prosecutes its own when they are undercover and commit crimes, and, in fact, it regularly permits its undercover sources to commit crimes with impunity.

Whatxe2x80x99s going on here?

Whatxe2x80x99s going on is the destruction of personal liberty in America by the very folks we have hired to protect it. CIA and FBI agents have all taken the same oath as I did when I became a judge xe2x80x94 to abide by the Constitution. The folks who torture, spy on without warrant, and create and participate in criminal behavior have become a law unto themselves as they decide what laws to break, what laws to uphold and whom to permit to get away with lawless behavior.

This will bring us to ruination. Why do we tolerate it?

xe2x80xa2 Andrew P. Napolitano is a former professor of law and judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey who has published nine books on the U.S. Constitution.

had amassed

troops near the Ukraine border

over the last few months, which US intelligence has assessed as preparation for a full-scale invasion in early 2022. The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Saturday that 10,000 troops had return to their permanent bases after completing training near the Ukrainian border.

The Biden administration has repeatedly

warned Russia

and threatened economic sanctions over a potential invasion of Ukraine, saying that the US is “ready to act if and when we need to,” while the US also pursues diplomatic engagement with Russia

.

President Joe Biden

appealed

to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month to de-escalate tensions.

Russia and NATO also intend to hold a separate meeting on January 12, both the NSC spokesman and a NATO press officer confirmed to CNN.

Both sides are also expected to engage during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe scheduled for January 13, according to the US spokesman.

US officials plan to consult with Ukraine regularly on the side as the negotiations take place next month, a White House official told CNN, since Ukraine is not a member of two of the three bodies set to meet in early January to discuss the country’s future and Russia’s demands that NATO not expand further eastward.

Asked why the White House plans to use the US-Russia strategic stability dialogue — traditionally reserved for nuclear arms talks — for talks about Ukraine and NATO, the official said the administration wanted to use an existing format as a vehicle for the talks instead of creating a new one specifically for that purpose. The US and Russia are still going back and forth over the agenda.

The official said the White House believes talks would be more productive in an environment of de-escalation, but said the status of the talks were not contingent upon Russia drawing down. The White House still believes diplomacy is the most responsible path forward “even if we don’t get everything we want,” the official said.

This story has been updated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has drastically reduced its estimate of Omicron cases in the US, saying the variant accounted for about 59 percent of COVID-19 infections as of Christmas Day xe2x80x94 a massive drop from the 73 percent previously reported.

The CDC also significantly lowered its estimate for the week before Christmas, saying that the variant accounted for just 22.5 percent of all infections as of Dec. 18. The public health agency previously estimated that Omicron accounted for 73.2 percent of cases that week.

This could mean that the Delta strain could actually be behind many of the current COVID-19 hospitalizations, former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb said.

xe2x80x9cSetting aside the question of how the initial estimate was so inaccurate, if CDCxe2x80x99s new estimate of #Omicron prevalence is precise then it suggests that a good portion of the current hospitalizations wexe2x80x99re seeing from Covid may still be driven by Delta infections,xe2x80x9d Gottlieb wrote on Twitter.

The CDC blamed the disparity on the rate with which the highly transmissible variant spreads.

xe2x80x9cThere was a wide predictive interval posted in last weekxe2x80x99s chart, in part because of the speed at which Omicron was increasing,xe2x80x9d CDC rep Jasmine Reed told Politico. xe2x80x9cWe had more data come in from that timeframe and there was a reduced proportion of Omicron.xe2x80x9d

The revised Christmas model includes a narrower confidence range of Omicronxe2x80x99s prevalence: 41.5 to 74 percent. The new model suggests that Delta still accounts for 41.1 percent of infections across the country.

Tuesdayxe2x80x99s revision came as the US logged its highest single-day total of new COVID-19 cases xe2x80x94 with 441,278 infections passing the previous daily record by nearly 150,000 cases, according to the report.

Reed also said the daily case total is likely an xe2x80x9coverestimatexe2x80x9d due to lagging state reporting. Many testing centers were closed over the holiday weekend.
xe2x80x9cThe counts of cases will become more stable after the new year,xe2x80x9d she told Politico.

Meanwhile, former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams criticized the CDC for its decision to cut isolation periods from 10 days to five.
xe2x80x9cI love the CDC. Grew up wanting to work there and have been one of their most ardent defenders. I never dreamed the day would come when I would advise people NOT to follow their guidance,xe2x80x9d he said in a tweet.

xe2x80x9cThey wouldnxe2x80x99t even follow it for their own family,xe2x80x9d he added.