Infectious Diseases

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was quoted in a Yahoo! Life story reporting on how Thanksgiving 2021 gatherings with family and friends may pan out given the delta variant. Russo discussed the categories of people who may be the most vulnerable, including children and those who are vaccinated but whose immune systems are compromised.

Self quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story about whether or not germs can be transferred from clothing worn outside to inside furniture and other items. “The risk isn’t zero, but I think the risk is very low,” he said. The story also ran on MSN.

Self published a story about whether clothing worn outside can carry infectious microbes into the house and infect you. It quoted Thomas Russo, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who said the chances of that happening are low, especially if people are diligent about hand-washing. “For many pathogens, including respiratory and GI pathogens, if your hands are contaminated, you then subsequently have to touch the mouth or eyes or nose to get sick,” Russo said.

PressFrom reported on various pieces of misinformation on social media about COVID-19 and quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who explained the origin of the term COVID-19.

Yahoo! News interviewed John Sellick, professor of medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, about how some universities that have lax COVID-19 rules are now going on campus-wide quarantines. Sellick points out that schools that do not have good COVID-19 protocols in place will continue to see cases. “It impacts more than the kids and schools. Kids bring that home to people, and then they get sick,” he says.

John Sellick, professor of medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB was featured in a Health magazine story of recommendations from infectious disease experts about safely gathering over Labor Day weekend. Experts overwhelmingly agree that outdoor picnics, bonfires and beach gatherings are a better choice than getting together with others inside. "It gets back to the concept of how this virus spreads," said Sellick. "You're less likely to get COVID-19 if you're outside." The article was also published on MSN.

Yahoo! Life interviewed John Sellick, professor of medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, about the melioidosis. There have been four cases of the rare bacterial infection, which has resulted in two deaths. Despite the uncertainty of how these patients in the U.S. got melioidosis, Sellick said people shouldn’t be too worried. “Most of us infectious disease doctors have never seen a case,” said Sellick. The article also appeared in Yahoo Finance (Australia) and MSN.

WIVB-TV interviewed Tim Murphy, senior associate dean for clinical and translational research at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, about the rising COVID-19 rates in Western New York. “The difference between now and last year is the Delta variant,” said Murphy. He notes that the Delta variant is twice as contagious as the original Covid strain. That helps explain why, even with more than half of the population vaccinated, our local positivity rate is higher than it’s been all summer, and worse than all of last summer.

In a story on earaches and COVID-19, the publication BestLife notes that Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, told Prevention in January that earaches could be linked to COVID-19.

Shape Magazine included commentary from John Sellick, professor of medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, in an article about the mixing of vaccine shots when a booster becomes available. Will it be safe for someone who received one brand of shot, to receive a different companies’ booster shot? The effect of mixing vaccines is really "unknown," said Sellick. He also pointed this out: "By the time booster shots come to pass, there will be enough supply of every vaccine for people to be able to get what they had before." The article also appeared on MSN Singapore and Yahoo News.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was quoted in stories on at-home COVID-19 tests, such as the well-known BinaxNOW and QuickVue tests. Russo commented on situations in which people may want to call their doctor.  

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is quoted in a story that reports that most nursing homes in Western New York report employee vaccination rates below 75 percent. Russo says specific outreach efforts should be the first step to boost vaccination rates among health care workers, especially inside nursing homes. “Going into nursing homes, explaining to them why this is so important, both for staff and residents, and if the desired results are not achieved, then I think that’s when the discussion about mandatory vaccines needs to begin,” Russo says.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, explains that knowing which positive COVID-19 tests are from the Delta variant is useful for public health surveillance and tracking. “It’s important from a public health point of view, but from a personal point of view … there’s no significant reason that you need to know which variant you have,” he says.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, helps to explain where the name “COVID-19” came from. “‘CO’ is for coronavirus, ‘VI’ is for virus, and ‘D’ is for disease,” he said. “The ‘-19’ is the year when it was first discovered.”

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was asked to comment about fights over mask mandates in schools. Russo said that these continued battles are a sign that the honor system recommended by the CDC in April when the agency announced that fully vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks “failed miserably.” “Everyone stopped wearing masks and most people who were wearing masks were the ones who were fully vaccinated,” Russo says. “Mask mandates get the unvaccinated to wear masks, and they help protect everyone.”