Infectious Diseases

Verywell Health quoted John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a report on updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that states people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 do not need to be tested for the virus, even after known exposure. “When you have a very low presence of infection and many people are vaccinated, testing is largely unnecessary in the vaccinated population,” said Sellick. “I would not ask fully-vaccinated people to pursue testing, unless they have extenuating circumstances, like someone at home who is immunosuppressed.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that fully vaccinated people can forgo wearing face coverings, for the most part. “The CDC wants to send a message that if you’re fully vaccinated, you’re largely prevented from getting infected and have a reduced risk of spreading it to others,” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “And, if you do get COVID-19, you will be asymptomatic or experience trivial disease.” He notes: “This isn’t like smallpox, where we cured that disease. Even if we do great in this country, until the world gets vaccinated, it will be imported into this country.” Ultimately, due to vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal, it is possible we may never reach herd immunity. “As long as there are COVID-19 cases out there, the virus is able to evolve and change,” Russo says.

The Buffalo News reports on the COVID-19 pandemic and various approaches to boosting U.S. vaccination rates. “Hopefully the decreased recommendation for masking will give further incentive for vaccine-hesitant individuals to vax up. That’s more of a carrot than a stick approach,” says Alan J. Lesse, MD, associate professor of medicine and senior associate dean for medical curriculum. More than half of states have dropped virus-prevention mandates. Jeffrey M. Lackner, PsyD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine, visited Nashville two weekends ago for his son’s graduation, a Tennessee city where pandemic restrictions have ended. “We went down Broadway and 20 rooftop bars were filled to the brim,” says Lackner. “No one’s wearing a mask. I felt at the end of my time there like I was being gaslighted.” Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, says: “The unvaccinated pose a risk to themselves, other unvaccinated individuals, and to a subset of the fully vaccinated that are immunocompromised.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear face coverings indoors or practice social distancing. However, some people still cannot get vaccinated and many have chosen to forgo vaccines, so Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is urging them to continue wearing their face coverings for themselves and others. “In the short-term, I think some businesses will require people to wear masks,” says Russo. “But I think as cases continue to go down, they will feel increasingly comfortable and likely that mandate will be lifted.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surprised most people last week when the agency announced that those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 do not need to wear masks indoors or outdoors in most situations to protect against the virus. If you have children at home but you’re fully vaccinated, you should also be OK to go into a store without a mask, says Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and senior associate dean for clinical and translational research. “Children don't seem to acquire COVID-19 as easily and don't transmit it as easily,” he says. “When they do, the illness tends to be mild, although you don't want to expose your child to the virus.”

Plenty of people were surprised and even caught off-guard last week when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that those who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear a face covering in most situations. Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, says he has been "advising a lot of people" about how to handle the new guidance. “People are nervous about this — I've heard it a zillion times,” he says. “The mask has been their security blanket for 14-plus months.” The big concern, Russo says, is that “unvaccinated people won’t be wearing a mask.” He says you should be “just fine” to go out in public without a face covering if you’re fully vaccinated, as long as you're not immunocompromised. If you are, he recommends continuing to wear a face covering, just in case. He points out that if you are not vaccinated, you still should be wearing a face covering.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says fully vaccinated people can be without face coverings in most places. So what are COVID-19 facts to remember in a world with fewer masks? Airborne transmission is far more common than surface transmission, which is why cars and indoor spaces are more dangerous than breezy outdoor areas that disperse virus particles. John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine, likes to put it this way: “Whose air are you breathing?” Also, it is clear vaccines drive down virus numbers and keep people from getting serious infections. “Imagine a dance or a concert with 100 people, and COVID-19 shows up,” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “If only one or two people are not protected through vaccination, the virus is going to have a hard time finding those susceptible hosts.”

Students are headed back to class amid the coronavirus pandemic. Even though COVID-19 cases are falling across the country, masks are still important to prevent the spread of COVID-19, says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “If you have people indoors who are unmasked, they pose a risk to themselves and to others,” Russo says. “They should wear masks.” Russo says that mandating the vaccine “makes a lot of sense,” noting that this would help protect children and others. “Kids are part of the transmission chain and have the potential to infect others that are higher risk,” Russo says. “From a public health point of view, the safest way to go for the children and community overall is to have everyone vaccinated.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear a face covering indoors or practice social distancing, “except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.” Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and senior associate dean for clinical and translational research, calls the new guidelines a “huge, bold change.” After all, there’s no way to know if strangers are vaccinated. “When you go into a crowd and there are many people not wearing masks, it’s a very safe environment if they’re all vaccinated,” says Murphy. But that level of safety dips if there are plenty of unvaccinated people not wearing masks, so he “understands why people might be a bit nervous” about the lifted mandate.

Several Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences faculty members are quoted in a story on what kinds of messages resonate most with people still hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Jeffrey M. Lackner, PsyD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine, said: “It would be great if everyone struggled with the same kind of health information deficit and we could have a one-size-fits all approach, but this is a really complicated health problem. There are no magic words to change behavior.” The story also quotes Alan J. Lesse, MD, senior associate dean for medical curriculum and associate professor of medicine, and Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases.

A report on the CDC’s latest recommendation that vaccinated people can go without masks in most public places quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who said: “I still have misgivings in indoor settings, even with our cases down, if individuals are unvaccinated, because I think this virus is going to continue to percolate in our communities, probably with seasonal decreases.” Russo said he thinks unvaccinated people should wear masks.

A report on the incentives being used to get Western New Yorkers vaccinated quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who said: “There’s no serious safety concerns at this point at all, and over 400 million doses have been given worldwide,” he said. “These vaccines are better than we could have possibly dreamed.”

A report on the CDC advisory committee’s recent endorsement of COVID-19 vaccines for 12-15 year olds quoted John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, who said: “I hope that most parents will jump on this right away. Getting this group vaccinated is a good deal all the way around.”

News outlets reported on how safe vaccinated individuals are when traveling during the pandemic and quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who said, “The vaccine is very effective but not perfect. Although your chances of transmitting or contracting COVID-19 are much smaller, there is still that possibility.” 

It was reported that NYS hasn’t yet changed its indoor masking requirements, but that it may do so if current easing of COVID-19 restrictions are successful. The story quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who said: “I think this is a good way to do it, sort of step down piece meal as we've really been doing all along.”