Media Coverage

The Buffalo News reported on a second COVID-19 patient in Western New York who has been treated with ivermectin. The story stated that Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, had noted that the drug is still under study as a potential COVID-19 treatment and that there is not yet definitive data on the drug.

WIVB interviewed Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, about the concern over the amount of health care workers who have been vaccinated so far. Currently 65 percent of health care workers in New York State have received the vaccination. “It’s critical for us to keep repeating this message, that this vaccine is highly effective and safe,” said Russo. “I think it’s also worth noting, that some individuals might have been waiting for the first round of individuals to get vaccinated just to be reassured. And, we’re really past that time. Myself and many others have been vaccinated without any issue here in Western New York and around the country.”

WBFO interviewed Bruce R. Troen, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, about the challenges of vaccinating staff and residents inside nursing homes. Troen said in the early day of community transmission, families and citizens were a problem, but now it’s staff. “It likely has continued or, in some cases, gotten worse because there is transmission of the disease through staff, through folks who work at the nursing homes,” he said. “So it’s not just about actually vaccinating the residents of the nursing homes, but hand in hand, that means staff.”

Experts now estimate that a person infected with the COVID-19 variant from the United Kingdom (called B.1.1.7) may spread the virus to, on average, 1.5 people, while someone with the “standard” COVID-19 strain may pass the virus to about 1.1 people. But Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, says it is important to note that, at this point, the data does not definitively say that B.1.1.7 is more contagious. While Russo says it is “likely the case” that the genetic makeup of these new variants does make them more contagious, he also points out the possibility that a phenomenon called the “founder effect” could be playing a role in the spread.

Prevention featured Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in an article about whether people should be worried about COVID-19 variants. Viruses mutate when they replicate their RNA, or genetic makeup, in a host’s cells. This is actually part of the pathogen’s life cycle and helps it survive, explains Russo. When the mutations stick around and spread, they lead to a variant of the virus. Again, this isn’t unique to the novel coronavirus. “Mutations occur all the time with viruses at different rates and frequencies,” Russo said.

The Buffalo News spoke to Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, about how one-third of New York State’s nursing home workers have refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus that has killed as many as 8,400 nursing home residents. Russo said the vaccine plays an important part in protecting nursing home residents who often have bad outcomes when they contract COVID-19. “We know the dominant mode of transmission in nursing homes is in staff, those who administer care, who are asymptomatically infected. If that is the dominant mode, it would be important to protect them so that they don’t subsequently infect nursing home residents,” said Russo.

The Wall Street Journal featured Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in an article about the United States nearing 400,000 COVID-19 deaths. The U.S. has suffered more deaths by far than any other country because so many won’t abide by safety measures — ubiquitous mask wearing, social distancing — that have kept COVID-19 rates under control in places like Japan. “We know how the virus is transmitted and we are just not getting it done,” said Russo, who indicated that COVID-19 cases and deaths could spike again as more Americans gather to watch the NFL playoffs. “Every time the Bills play, I dread we are going to have a bump in cases.” 

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was quoted in an article about how many patients have shared stories of their earache COVID symptoms online. The story was first reported in Prevention, where Russo confirmed to the publication that coronavirus patients could have earache symptoms, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t list earaches as a common coronavirus symptom.

The Buffalo News asked Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, about rollout issues causing delays for those waiting to receive their second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. “We don’t have any data that says (long delays undermine efficacy) one way or the other, but it’s logical that if you got a booster a little bit later, it would still get the job done,” Russo said. "I think most immunologists would say that if there is a delay in these second shots, that probably you’ll be fine, and probably they’ll get a reasonable boost, and probably at the end of the day it's not going to make a significant difference. But can we be 100 percent certain about this? The answer is no, we can’t, because we don’t have the data.”

A judge ordered Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital to give a COVID-19 patient an experimental treatment, and her family and attorneys say they believe that saved the patient’s life. The drug Ivermectin – a pill sometimes used to treat children with head lice or to rid dogs and cats of worms – is not yet approved by the federal government for use against COVID-19. Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, says people should never jump to conclusions about Ivermectin or any other drug based on one patient’s outcome. “There are some indications that this drug may have some merit in treating COVID-19 ... Yes, it is possible that it helped this woman,” Russo says. “But the trials and testing are ongoing. We don’t have definitive data yet to show it does help. Presently, it is not recommended as a treatment for COVID-19.”

Scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO) have warned that it will not be possible to achieve herd immunity from COVID-19 through vaccination this year. Herd immunity is when a significant portion of a population develops immunity to an infectious disease. WHO chief scientists say it will take more time to create and distribute enough vaccines around the world to stop the spread of COVID-19. Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, notes: “The percentage of the population that needs to be immunized in order to achieve herd immunity varies by disease.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “has issued a guideline, that in a perfect world we should wait 14 days before or after the coronavirus vaccine for getting an additional vaccine, however, that’s based on the possibility that other vaccinations could affect the new coronavirus vaccine. We don’t really have any data on that,” explains Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “So it’s really more of a guideline … The benefits and risks of that additional vaccination should be discussed and may be appropriate in a given situation,” he says.

John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, explains why COVID-19 does not always spread to every person in a household. Infectiousness depends on how many droplet particles a person produces and the amount of time they contain the virus. “The part that is always hard to know is how much virus the person who might infect you has at a given point,” says Sellick. “We know that with SARS-CoV-V2, the largest amounts of virus are present from a day or two before symptoms appear and running for a few days after that. So contact with someone earlier in infection is more likely to get you into trouble than later on.”

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, says Erie County remains an orange zone because the COVID-19 positive rate and hospitalizations are increasing. “I don't think Erie County is quite ready to get out of orange-zone restrictions. The number of new cases, new hospitalizations, total hospitalizations, 10 percent positivity, whatever metric that you want to look at is higher now than when the restrictions were initially put in place,” notes Russo.

California’s surge of coronavirus cases has continued to overwhelm the state’s hospitals; the state has hit a record daily death toll and reported around 50,000 new cases three days in a row. “January is going to be a tough month,” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “We are still about four months away from the vaccine being able to bail us out,” he notes.