Infectious Diseases

An Another Voice article in The Buffalo News quotes John Sellick, an infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “Getting kids immunized is going to be a very important part of this moving on to getting a good level of protection in the community.”

An article on Health.com about whether the Pfizer vaccine could lead to heart inflammation quotes John Sellick, an infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “Doctors aren't overly worried, so you shouldn't be either,” according to the article. "We know that COVID-19 can cause myocarditis," said Sellick. "But we've administered a huge number of the Pfizer vaccines in the US and we have not seen this." Sellick also said he would be "very surprised" if there was a link between the Pfizer vaccine and heart inflammation. "If this was a vaccine with a live virus, you might say that, in a certain group of people, perhaps their hearts go haywire," according to the article. "But with this vaccine, it seems biologically implausible."

A report on WGRZ on WNY health leaders working to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine quotes Thomas Russo, professor and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School. "I think getting the last 30% of individuals vaccinated to achieve what we hope will be the proportion needed for herd immunity is going to be a heavier lift," Russo said.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was interviewed for a story on the increase in younger people being hospitalized due to COVID-19. “There’s a disproportionate amount of individuals that are younger and presently being hospitalized,” Russo said. He points to a mix of new coronavirus variants and a lack of social distancing and mask usage as key contributing factors.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is quoted in a story on whether people can still get COVID-19 after they’ve been vaccinated. Clinical trials typically don’t include immunocompromised people, according to Russo. “The efficacy [for elderly and immunocompromised people] may not be as high as the levels in the people in the clinical trials,” he said.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is quoted in a story reporting that the U.S. State Department has advised Americans against traveling to 80% of countries around the globe as COVID-19 risks persist. “Obviously, if you’re fully vaccinated, travel is much, much safer than if you’re not,” Russo said, adding that “Airlines increase risk, but they’re relatively safe if you keep your mask on.” 

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is quoted in a story on whether it’s safe to travel in the U.S. “Remember that most of the transmission of the coronavirus is respiratory — it’s not through inanimate objects,” said Russo. “When you’re in a rental car, the greatest risk is if you happen to be in the car with someone else and they could be infected.”

A story about how soon is too soon to do things like hug people and travel after you’re fully vaccinated quotes Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Murphy acknowledges that it’s frustrating to have some limitations on what you can and can't do, even when you’re fully vaccinated. But, he says, that will likely change soon. “This is time-limited,” he says. “Hopefully it will be just another month or two until most of the population becomes vaccinated. That’s when things are going to open up.”

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was interviewed for a story on the importance of keeping your guard up when it comes to COVID-19, even as warmer weather approaches. “Outdoors is much safer, but it’s not fail safe,” he said. “Two people passing outside, at a reasonable distance doesn’t pose a significant risk; however, if people are standing around, drinking a cup of coffee, or talking, that's the scenario when unvaccinated individuals that are not wearing masks outdoors could get infected.”

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is quoted in a story about whether people should still wear a mask outdoors. “If you’re fully vaccinated, you could say that you’re not worried about yourself, but there is the concept of mask etiquette where people don't know that you’re vaccinated,” he says. “There is still a significant portion of people who aren’t vaccinated. It’s just appropriate etiquette to wear a mask.” 

A story reporting on why even vaccinated individuals should still wear face masks in public quotes Manoj J. Mammen, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, who said: “One of the reasons why we want people to wear masks, is we don’t want to spread the infection around when you don’t have symptoms, even if you’re fully vaccinated.” The story also quoted Timothy F. Murphy, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. “Particularly, with the high level of circulating virus right now, the new variants are going to be forming and so we don’t know what new variants are coming, and it’s possible that the new ones are less susceptible to prevention by the vaccines,” Murphy said.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is quoted in a story on how the coronavirus impacts young people. Between 15 percent to 25 percent of younger people are having “persistent, longer-term symptoms,” Russo said. Those symptoms may include loss of taste or smell, brain fog, headache, fatigue or a persistent cough. “We can’t just look at this as just an acute syndrome: ‘What are the chances of me dying or not?’ Russo said.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, made his second appearance in a week on the Shredd & Ragan Show. Russo discussed in detail the imperative for everyone to get vaccinated, despite the recent suspension of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. “I think it’s important for people to realize with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, over 200 million doses have been given to date with no concerns in terms of safety, an extraordinary degree of efficacy,” Russo said. “If you get vaccinated, this is going to enable you to do all sorts of things: gather safely with other fully vaccinated friends, really the first step toward getting back to where we wanted to go before this whole pandemic descended upon us. … We need to get a critical number of people vaccinated to really put this virus to bed.” Russo arrives at the 54-minute mark of the podcast.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was quoted in a WGRZ story on comments by Pfizer CEO Alfred Bourla, who said it’s “likely” that people will need a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “If a variant develops, that could circumvent the protection afforded by the present generation of the vaccines,” Russo said, adding that’s where a booster could come in handy. “We don’t want to be caught in a position where we were in the beginning of this pandemic.”

Travel and overall pandemic fatigue has driven the post-spring break surge in COVID-19 cases, according to a Buffalo News story that quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “People wanted to be done with this pandemic. They acted as though they were done with this pandemic,” Russo said. “But the virus is not done with us. The curves are blunted. But they’re disturbingly higher than I was hoping for.”