WXXI AM News

Brett Dahlberg

Health reporter and producer

Brett is the health reporter and a producer at WXXI News. He has a master’s degree from the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Before landing at WXXI, he was an intern at WNYC, and he also produced freelance reporting work focused on health and science in New York City. 

Brett grew up in Bremerton, Washington, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

 

Ways to Connect

Monroe County records one new COVID-19 death; hospitalizations fall

By • 2 hours ago
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Monroe County public health department said Wednesday that one more person has died of COVID-19 in the county, bringing the death toll to 277.

The number of people in hospitals for COVID-19 treatment in the county fell by four, to 65, the health department said. Of those hospitalized, five are on ventilators in intensive care units -- a drop of one from Tuesday and the lowest number recorded since March 23.

URMC gets federal funding for disability research

By • 3 hours ago
University of Rochester Medical Center

The University of Rochester Medical Center’s neuroscience laboratory has received a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study intellectual and developmental disorders.

URMC’s Del Monte Neuroscience Institute is one of 14 institutions in the country to receive the grant and be named an Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center by the NIH.

The director of URMC’s institute, John Foxe, said the grant will fund research into common developmental disorders, like autism, and much rarer conditions like Batten disease, which occurs in only about three of every 100,000 births.

Three more die from COVID-19 in Monroe County, but hospitalizations drop

By • Jul 7, 2020
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Monroe County public health department said Tuesday that three more people have died of COVID-19, bringing the county's death toll to 276.

The newly reported deaths come after four days of no fatalities from the disease, according to the county's figures.

The number of people in hospitals for COVID-19 treatment in the county fell by five, to 69, the health department said. Of those hospitalized, six are on ventilators in intensive care units -- a drop of one from Monday and the lowest number recorded since March 23.

Numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU patients both drop in Monroe County

By • Jul 1, 2020
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In the latest data from the Monroe County public health department, the number of people in hospitals for COVID-19 treatment and those in intensive care units both dropped on Wednesday.

The health department said 71 people were hospitalized in the county -- the lowest number since early April -- and seven were on ventilators.

The county received positive test results for 32 people on Monday. Of those, half were people under 30 years old.

Monroe County COVID-19 hospitalizations tick up by one

By • Jun 30, 2020
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment in Monroe County ticked up by one, to 76, according to data from the county public health department on Tuesday.

Of those hospitalized, nine were on ventilators in intensive care units, the department said. That number was unchanged since Monday.

Both total hospitalizations and ICU censuses of COVID-19 patients are now a fraction of their peaks earlier in the epidemic.

The health department reported one new death from COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the county's total to 271.

URMC research uncovers links between COVID-19 and vaping, smoking

By • Jun 29, 2020
Gagandeep Kaur, Giuseppe Lungarella and Irfan Rahman / Journal of Inflammation

Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center has found evidence of why COVID-19 is worse for people who smoke and vape than for the rest of the population.

Irfan Rahman, who runs a lab at URMC that studies the effects of tobacco products on the lungs, said people who smoke and vape often have elevated levels of receptors for an enzyme called ACE2.

Monroe County records one new COVID-19 death

By • Jun 29, 2020
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Monroe County public health department reported one new death from COVID-19 on Monday, the day after a weekend in which the county recorded no deaths from the disease.

The county's death toll from COVID-19 is now 270.

The health department said it received positive test results for the virus that causes COVID-19 from 29 people on Monday, ranging in age from 20 or younger to 90 or older.

Hundreds arrive at Monroe County hospitals for first patient visits since COVID-19 shutdown

By • Jun 26, 2020
University of Rochester Medical Center

Hospitals in Monroe County reopened for visitors on Thursday for the first time since they adopted zero-visitation policies in March to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Both Rochester Regional Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center said hundreds of people arrived at their hospitals hoping to visit patients. At Rochester General Hospital, almost 200 people showed up in just the first hour of visitation, a spokesperson said.

COVID-19 hospitalizations drop below 100 in Monroe County

By • Jun 23, 2020
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Monroe County public health department said Tuesday that fewer than 100 people were in hospitals for COVID-19 treatment in the county. That marks the first time in more than a month that the number, now at 88, has fallen below triple digits.

Three more people in the county died of COVID-19, the health department said, bringing the total death toll to 264.

Monroe County hospitals ease visitor restrictions as COVID-19 cases decline

By • Jun 23, 2020

As the spread of COVID-19 slows in Monroe County, hospitals that had implemented “zero-visitation” policies in March are now loosening those restrictions.

The two hospital systems in the county, Rochester Regional Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center, both said they are not opening visitation policies up to the same relaxed standards as before the novel coronavirus arrived, but they are now allowing some visitors for some patients.

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