Media Coverage

An article for Managed Health Care Executive on the effect of telehealth with caring for diabetic children published interviews with Kathleen Bethin, clinical professor, and Lucy Mastrandrea, associate professor and division chief of endocrinology/diabetes, both at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

WKBW-TV interviewed Peter Winkelstein, MD, executive director of UB’s Institute for Healthcare Informatics and clinical professor of pediatrics, about why WNY is seeing such high COVID-19 infection rates when the rest of the state is seeing record lows. Noting that “the short answer is, we’re not sure,” Winkelstein added that the high rates are a combination of  spring break, the new variants and the reopening of various sectors that had been closed or restricted. “We now have more patients in the hospital than we did even at the peak in the spring,” he said.

The Buffalo News used used commentary from Peter Winkelstein, MD, executive director of UB’s Institute for Healthcare Informatics and clinical professor of pediatrics, in an editorial column about the dangers posed by unvaccinated people. The problem with lagging vaccination rates is that they invite the Delta variant to “pounce,” said Winkelstein. “With the reduction in restrictions and an increase of a contagious variant, that does mean that people who are susceptible are at an increased risk,” he said.

WGRZ-TV quoted Peter Winkelstein, MD, executive director of UB’s Institute for Healthcare Informatics and clinical professor of pediatrics, about the implications of recently rising COVID-19 hospitalizations. “It’s very hard to say what’s going to happen next because it all depends on all these factors that are so hard to predict, like how many vaccines are we going to get to this area? The more vaccines we get, the better. What’s the weather going to be like?” Winkelstein said warm days actually work in our favor, with people more likely to do things outside rather than gather indoors.

After nearly four months of vaccinations focused primarily on older populations, Erie County officials have said that young adults are now the most likely to catch the virus, and it is more common for someone under age 65 to be hospitalized than it is for seniors. “Because so many of our seniors have been vaccinated, they’re protected from developing a severe illness and hospitalization and death, and the vaccine is working,” says Erie County’s health commissioner, Gale R. Burstein, MD, who is a clinical professor of pediatrics. “So who’s getting infected?” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “It tends to be younger people. Our 20-year-olds: That decade has been the leader for cases overall,” he notes.

If you suffer from allergies, the arrival of spring can lead to itchy, watery eyes, sneezing and sniffling. According to doctors, rain can actually make allergies worse. The pollen that’s in the air may cling to rain drops and literally get washed from the air,” says Stanley A. Schwartz, MD, PhD, UB Distinguished Professor of medicine and pediatrics, who is chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology. But rain can break up pieces of pollen on the ground, spreading them further. Rain can also indirectly make pollen counts worse by nourishing the plants that release pollen into the air, Schwartz says. “Rain and warm weather all stimulate flowering plants, leading to more luxuriant plant growth,” he notes. “If you have a good warm and wet season, the pollen counts can end up being very high.”

Using a nasal spray seems pretty straightforward, but according to a viral video by a physician in Florida, it’s very likely that your technique could use improvement. In the video, the physician advises to first blow your nose, then prime the pump, then angle the spray to the outside corner of your eye, then pull your cheek to open the nasal area, then spray and sniff gently. Expanding on the Florida physician’s advice, Stanley A. Schwartz, MD, PhD, UB Distinguished Professor of medicine and pediatrics — who is chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology — notes that blowing your nose is important. “If you don’t blow your nose, the mucus that’s in your nose will dilute the nasal spray,” he says. Also, Schwartz notes there is a risk of puncturing your septum if you repeatedly spritz steroid nasal spray directly on it.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance that states fully vaccinated people can travel within the United States without getting tested for COVID-19 or going into quarantine afterward. However, Erie County’s health commissioner, Gale R. Burstein, MD, who is a clinical professor of pediatrics, says between the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations and the new contagious COVID-19 variants in the community, she is concerned about spring travel. “I’m really worried that the second half of April we are going to see even increasing numbers of COVID-19,” says Burstein. Thomas A. Russo, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, agrees with Burstein. He says if you are not fully vaccinated, this may not be the best time to travel.

A report on Pfizer saying its COVID-19 vaccine is effective for children quotes Karl O. A. Yu, MD, PhD, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics. “COVID is not a benign disease just because you’re younger than 50-years-old or 60-years-old, so anything we can do to blunt the spread of COVID in the general population, including the pediatric population, can reduce the risk of our children and our adults from catching the disease and catching the more severe consequences,” he said.

Gale R. Burstein, MD, Erie County commissioner of health and a clinical professor of pediatrics, warns that her department is finding multiple people who are quarantining with COVID-19 symptoms but choosing not to get tested. “We imagine that there are just a lot of people walking around in our community that haven’t been tested, not because of lack of testing, but they just choose not to get tested and [are] exposing other people,” Burstein says. She adds: “I just want to call out to all my health care provider colleagues, please strongly encourage all your patients that have any type of symptoms that could be caused from COVID-19 to get tested.” Those sentiments are echoed by Peter Winkelstein, MD, clinical professor of pediatrics and executive director of UB’s Institute for Healthcare Informatics. He says this is crucial for several reasons, the most important of which is that if you are positive, you will know to self-isolate for the proper amount of time. Winkelstein says if people who potentially have COVID-19 are not getting tested, it is possible the infection rate might not paint a full picture of spread in the community. 

Losing your sense of smell can be worrisome, particularly because it’s a symptom of COVID-19. How can you tell the difference? A loss of smell due to allergies always happens along with nasal congestion, says Stanley A. Schwartz, MD, PhD, UB Distinguished Professor of medicine and pediatrics, who is chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology. Plus, if allergies are the culprit, the loss of smell will come on gradually. The nerves that conduct your sense of smell to your brain are located within your nose, Schwartz notes. When you’re having an allergic reaction, those nerves can become inflamed and “that will cut off your sense of smell,” he explains. Allergies can also cause sinusitis, an inflammation of your sinuses. “Sinusitis can cause your sinuses to fill up with mucus,” Schwartz says, “and that can affect your ability to smell odors.”

Allergy season can bring a whole host of unpleasant symptoms, like a runny nose, sneezing and itchy, watery eyes. An allergic reaction is a chain reaction that starts in your genes and is expressed by your immune system, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. Certain allergy medications, including first-generation antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can make you feel tired, says Stanley A. Schwartz, MD, PhD, UB Distinguished Professor of medicine and pediatrics, who is chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology. “Antihistamines block the receptors for histamine in the body, and there is a receptor for histamine in the brain that keeps you alert,” he explains.

Teresa Quattrin, MD, UB Distinguished Professor of pediatrics and senior associate dean for research integration, is quoted in a story about blood glucose monitoring. Monitoring blood sugar regularly could reveal early signs of diabetes or prediabetes, Quattrin says: “Many people with diabetes and prediabetes don’t know because they feel normal. They can have blood sugars in the 200s and 300s and not feel any symptoms.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not have an exact count of the number of people who die from influenza each year. Instead, the federal agency develops estimates based on rates of confirmed hospitalizations from the flu. For that reason, it’s difficult to compare flu deaths with those of COVID-19, which are actual documented deaths, says Mark D. Hicar, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases. In fact, COVID-19 deaths are being tracked by confirmed cases, “but there are still going to be numbers of unconfirmed cases, so the deaths from COVID-19 are probably higher then what is being reported,” Hicar says. So far, nearly 30 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19, resulting in more than more than 529,000 deaths, per the latest data from the CDC.

An article at Observer Today on Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties lagging behind New York State in COVID-19 vaccinations quotes Peter Winkelstein, MD, executive director of UB’s Institute for Healthcare Informatics and clinical professor of pediatrics. “I was surprised that the vaccine effect shows up so quickly in our models,” said Winkelstein. “There is reason for some optimism so long as we don’t take our foot off the gas and we continue to engage in all the safety and public health measures.”