Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - As COVID hospitalizations across New York State continue to decline, other areas of the country are seeing a drastically different picture.
In Florida, increasing numbers of infections have caused some businesses to close their doors just a week after the state began its second reopening phase. In Arizona, hospitalizations are increasing at an alarming rate, and Texas has set daily records for new cases.
Why is the picture so different?
One infectious disease specialist says there are two main factors that set our area apart from the rest of the country. Masks, and a gradual reopening.
"This is a great lesson for everyone in the country," said Dr. Tom Russo, Chief of Infectious Disease at the Jacobs School of Medicine. "Areas in the country that have waited for cases to come down to reasonable levels (like Western New York) and then slowly rolled out reopening measures, and most importantly areas that have mandatory mask use… are doing well."
"Areas of the country where there is not mandatory masking, areas of the country where people are ignoring public health measures… are doing poorly. We can see the consequences of behavior here."
Russo also believes that keeping any gatherings outdoors has helped Western New York, where in areas like Arizona, triple-digit temperatures have forced people to stay indoors.
What does this mean for the return of large events in Western New York? Are they safe because of the low numbers, or could they result in a new spike?
On Wednesday morning, we asked Dr. Russo if he would feel comfortable attending a Bills game next week given the current data in Western New York.
"The devil is in the details," Russo said.
"The moments of risk would be the tailgating phase, getting into the stadium, being well separated in your seats, in and out of the concession stands, and exiting. If the number of people were limited… and everyone was compliant and wore their masks… then the risk would be low."
