Infectious Diseases

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School, was quoted by Yahoo News in an article on when to wear a mask under new CDC guidelines. “If you’re unvaccinated, if you’re 50 and older, you’re pregnant, or you have significant underlying disease, it would be prudent to mask up,” said Russo. He added, “If I had a child in the medium zone, even if they were healthy, I would probably have them mask up to try to protect them from being infected to minimize potential consequences of long COVID.”

WKBW quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, in a report on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to lift the mask mandate for schools beginning Wednesday, March 2. “If they feel uncomfortable with their children going to school unmasked, it’s okay for children to wear a mask,” said Russo. “Just because the mandate has been lifted doesn’t mean the children cannot wear a mask.”

Yahoo! Life reported on what school districts are doing with regard to masking and other Covid restrictions and quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who said: “Our children need to be in schools for their educational, social and mental health. With good mitigation plans, which could include all these children being vaccinated, our schools can be a good place to be." The story was reprinted on Yahoo sites worldwide.

SpectrumNews reported on the global decline in COVID-19 cases and quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences who said,“We’re certainly headed in a great direction. But I think certain groups of individuals still need to remain cautious and those individuals at higher risk are developing severe disease and bad outcomes.” He added that the omicron subvariant is something global health experts continue to watch.

MSN reported on how genomic sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus works and included comments from Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School, who noted that the CDC’s variant proportion data paints a pretty accurate picture of what’s happening in the country and in your region, so “you can guesstimate which variant you have at this point.” Worth noting, omicron is by far the dominant strain circulating in the country right now. So, if you test positive for COVID-19, odds are very high you have the omicron variant. "Things were a little trickier when Delta was more common," Russo says.

The Buffalo News quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Jacobs School in a story on how to push through the last few weeks of winter. Western New York remains an area of high COVID-19 transmission, but that’s changing fast. Within a month, “there might be a whiff of virus, as opposed to a boatload of virus,” Russo said.

An Associated Press story reporting on the continued steady decline of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the U.S. quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “I think what’s influencing the decline, of course, is that omicron is starting to run out of people to infect,” Russo said. Hundreds of news outlets around the country also published the story.

Prevention Magazine interviewed Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, in an article about a study on how antihistamines may help people with Long COVID. Russo says that it’s “difficult to say” whether antihistamines would be helpful when you’re sick with a COVID-19 infection. He points to data that show certain cells that produce histamines, a chemical in the body that produce the symptoms of an allergic reaction, are activated when people are infected with the virus. In theory, then, taking an antihistamine, which works to fight those chemicals could help. Russo says, “I wouldn’t really recommend taking antihistamines in the acute phase of COVID, per se, unless you have sinus infection-like symptoms.” The article also appeared on Yahoo!Life.

A Very Well Health article featured Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, about benefits of children receiving a flu shot. According to a new study, getting a flu vaccine every year provides young children with antibodies that offer broad protection against new strains — a benefit that older kids and adults don’t get. According to Russo, the latest study shows that your response to the flu vaccine is “in part dictated by your prior exposure to live flu strains, prior vaccination, and the timing of that.”

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases spoke to Yahoo! Life about how some parents are feeling nervous now that some mask mandates are lifting. Russo recommends that families consider their individual situation before having their kids remove their masks in schools. “You need to assess the vulnerability of your household and immediate social bubble,” said Russo. “If everyone in your household is vaccinated and boosted, if eligible, then I think the risk of sending your kids to school without masks is low. You can start to carry on with life.”

Yahoo! Life featured Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, in an article that looks at how schools are battling COVID. "So, if your child is not vaccinated, there remains an increased risk of getting infected. Therefore, wearing a mask until your area gets to a lower level of transmission is prudent," he said. The article also appeared in Yahoo! Style UK, Yahoo! News Australia, Yahoo! New Zealand and Yahoo! News Philippines.

Health quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a piece titled, "Which At-Home COVID-19 Tests Have Been Recalled—And Which Are Still Safe to Use?" "It's critical for one's own personal health to know whether you have COVID or not," Russo says. "But it's also critical for others you interact with, because you can potentially infect them. If you're using a test that's flawed for whatever reason, you're not going to be able to get accurate results. It's risky."

Yahoo! Life reports on schools nationwide taking matters into their own hands after COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates have been lifted. The story quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Jacobs School, who said "we are not there yet" when it comes to fully removing mitigations. "Although cases are decreasing there is still a high community burden of disease in most locales," he said. "Premature cessation of mitigation measures runs the risk of prolonging the Omicron wave."

TV stations nationwide published a story quoting Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story on school masking mandates. “Even though we’re doing well, we still have in most locales in this country a high burden of disease and relatively low vaccination rates in school-age children,” Russo said. 

The Buffalo News reports on the state of the pandemic in Western New York. The region’s COVID-19 cases are tumbling “like a brick,” said John Sellick, DO, MS, professor of Infectious Diseases at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. If you are vaccinated and boosted, on the younger side and healthy, “your risk is minuscule, and it’s game on,” said Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, at the Jacobs School. But, Russo warns, you could still be lightly or asymptomatically infected, and “if in your extended social bubble you interact with someone who is vulnerable … then that becomes problematic. It’s not an issue for you, but you could put someone else at risk.”