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Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

sandiegoreader.com

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Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#11
post #7

No. Lack of universal health care and a proper social safety net resulted in the Hepatitis outbreak. Hepatitis can be prevented through vaccination, which a universal health care system would provide. Through treatment, which a universal health care system would provide. And proper sanitary conditions, which taking care of people so they don't have to live on the streets would provide.

Exactly! We need better homeless support. Day centers with real bathrooms and showers, better public bathrooms, and better safety nets for those who are struggling. We need more programs like Utah's where they try to get homeless people into homes first, then work on job training, drug addiction and integration into society. If we had housing first, many of these people could have accessible toilets.

Plastic bags are terrible for the environment. They're not recyclable unless that type of plastic is in demand. Even then, it's often shipped to China. Most companies don't touch it because there is so little return and things like staples or food particle can contaminate whole batches if they get through sorting.

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#12
From the article:

The best defense is getting vaccinated — which is free because of the epidemic. The vaccine used to cost about $100. If you’ve traveled to the third world, you’ve probably gotten the two injections a month apart. It’s good for life — no boosters needed.

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#13
Yes 100%. They imposed 7c bag tax in Chicago and I happened to wait 30 mins near the checkout lanes. Just observe the insanity. People bring the dirtiest nastiest bags and put them right on the conveyer belt. It must be literally a massive exponential increase in physical transmission of microscope matter between shoppers compared to issuing every shopper new bags.

This stuff is insanity. Planners gone wild trying to save us or the planet I guess and basically killing people instead. Dumb as rocks liberal politics.

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#14
post #9

Does it seem to anybody else that having widely available public restrooms would be a way better (including way more hygienic) way to address this issue?

But nobody wants to build (and keep clean) a bathroom in their backyard (the for homeless people is implied). And anyone who did would have protests from their neighbors. Lava Mae addressed this by building portable showers out of old buses (to the tune of ~$1M per bus) and trailers (cheaper).

That makes me think of Rick and Morty:

Beth, do you still love me?

Ugh, what kind of question is that?

The "yes or no" kind?

Jerry, do you want homeless people to have homes?

Yes.

Are you gonna build them?

No.

Then what good was the "yes"?

Wait, is loving me the house or the homeless people?

Loving you is work, Jerry hard work, like building a homeless shelter nobody wants to say no to doing it, but some people put the work in. So, what do you say? Do you see me working here? Does this conversation seem tedious to me?

Sort of.

Then I obviously sort of love you, don't I?

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#15
post #13

Yes 100%. They imposed 7c bag tax in Chicago and I happened to wait 30 mins near the checkout lanes. Just observe the insanity. People bring the dirtiest nastiest bags and put them right on the conveyer belt. It must be literally a massive exponential increase in physical transmission of microscope matter between shoppers compared to issuing every shopper new bags. This stuff is insanity. Planners gone wild trying to…

Yea bag taxes are dumb. They should just ban plastic bags entirely like in Seattle or Portland. You can just get paper bags. Some stores charge 5 cents, but some stores its free. And you can always bring your cloth bags. I do that all the time.

If you're complaining about reusable bags at the store, you should take a good long think about every questionable surface and hand those groceries touched on the way to the store and your cabinet.

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#16

Seems like a good opportunity to design and distribute plastic bags specifically for people poops (sort of like the bags for dog poops).

Or maybe fix the low cost housing problem and maybe create better homeless day centers and public bathrooms? Just an idea...

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#17
post #13

Yes 100%. They imposed 7c bag tax in Chicago and I happened to wait 30 mins near the checkout lanes. Just observe the insanity. People bring the dirtiest nastiest bags and put them right on the conveyer belt. It must be literally a massive exponential increase in physical transmission of microscope matter between shoppers compared to issuing every shopper new bags. This stuff is insanity. Planners gone wild trying to…

"Planners gone wild trying to save us or the planet I guess and basically killing people instead. Dumb as rocks liberal politics." Your intelligence is seeping through, it's so hilarious.

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#18
post #7

No. Lack of universal health care and a proper social safety net resulted in the Hepatitis outbreak. Hepatitis can be prevented through vaccination, which a universal health care system would provide. Through treatment, which a universal health care system would provide. And proper sanitary conditions, which taking care of people so they don't have to live on the streets would provide.

We still get hepatitis outbreaks here in Canada despite our universal healthcare. Universal healthcare does not automatically solve the problem of getting vaccinations to vulnerable populations or prioritizing the right interventions at the right time given limited resources.

Maybe our situation is better here in this regard, I don't know the statistics, but it's demonstrably false that universal healthcare automatically prevents hepatitis outbreaks.

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#19
post #7

No. Lack of universal health care and a proper social safety net resulted in the Hepatitis outbreak. Hepatitis can be prevented through vaccination, which a universal health care system would provide. Through treatment, which a universal health care system would provide. And proper sanitary conditions, which taking care of people so they don't have to live on the streets would provide.

Those things could have prevented it, like giving everyone housing could solve homelessness.

But given the actual conditions San Diego started in, did the lack of plastic bags cause this specific outbreak? Which is the actual prompt. Seems inconclusive from the article, but not casually dismissable.

Re: Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak?

#20
post #7

No. Lack of universal health care and a proper social safety net resulted in the Hepatitis outbreak. Hepatitis can be prevented through vaccination, which a universal health care system would provide. Through treatment, which a universal health care system would provide. And proper sanitary conditions, which taking care of people so they don't have to live on the streets would provide.

Vaccinations are free, per TFA.
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