We could all lick our phone-screen to counter that problem.
Wait, there are people who don't lick their phone-screen?
Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
101–110 of 149 posts
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
When the average 36 year old American overestimates their chance of dying from covid by 1000x and any comment that goes against the “be scared” narrative.... when I get called “dangerous” for posting public data from state covid dashboards because my post shows this isn’t that bad, relatively speaking.... a lot of people are gonna have some serious long term mental trauma. It seriously feels like people want to this…
> As occurred in the spring, COVID-19 has become the leading cause of death in the United States (daily mortality rates for heart disease and cancer, which for decades have been the 2 leading causes of death, are approximately 1700 and 1600 deaths per day, respectively4).Dec 17, 2020 [0] How do you argue with statistics? Its leading cause of death. [0] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2774465
"How do you argue with statistics?"
Depends on the methodologies used and the conclusions drawn from the numbers.
For example, the parent comment was claiming that the average 35 year old overestimates their chances of dying from covid. Your comment states that covid is the leading cause of death. I believe both statements are true. You can see some of this in a quote from the article you posted.
"In contrast, for individuals younger than age 45 years, other causes of death, such as drug overdoses, suicide, transport accidents, cancer, and homicide exceeded those from COVID-19."
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#103The link between obesity and the western diet is stronger than the link between obesity and hand sanitizer.
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#104Yet another news article that doesn't link the damn paper. "The hygiene hypothesis, the COVID pandemic, and consequences for the human microbiome" > This pandemic intersects with a decades-long decline in microbial diversity and ancestral microbes due to hygiene, antibiotics, and urban living (the hygiene hypothesis). High-risk groups succumbing to COVID-19 include those with preexisting conditions, such as diabetes…
Hygiene hypothesis still seems dubious to me. The notion that hygienic lifestyles can lead to a weaker immune system or microbiome is plausible, but I'd actually be pretty surprised if it translated into worse long-term outcomes like life expectancy. Being exposed to lots of pathogens can have some pretty big downsides. We're only just beginning to understand long-term COVID symptoms and it's possible we've missed lo…
I wouldn't argue that returning to hyper non hygiene would be better, but there has been a steady and remarkable rise in Autoimmune diseases, allergies, and asthma in the last few decades. Each of these conditions have long term consequences and complications. The hygiene hypothesis link to the microbiome and "training" of the immune system link is plausible and more and more research is backing it up. Moreover, given that the immune system and inflammation continue to be found to have a role in virtually every long term disease, the hygiene hypothesis should not be taken lightly. There are a variety of sources backing up my points, you can look around; just note i am NOT saying that any of the links are certain, just that the amount of evidence that does exist far surpasses the point where the hygiene hypothesis is dubious IMO, IANAD.
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#105There's a difference between being exposed to dirt and being exposed to viral diseases, though. Playing outside in the leaves will likely trigger healthy immune responses. Contracting COVID-19 may lead to long term health issues.
>Contracting COVID-19 may lead to long term health issues
It may but more likely to make you immune from covid-19 and similar virus.
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hygiene hypothesis still seems dubious to me. The notion that hygienic lifestyles can lead to a weaker immune system or microbiome is plausible, but I'd actually be pretty surprised if it translated into worse long-term outcomes like life expectancy. Being exposed to lots of pathogens can have some pretty big downsides. We're only just beginning to understand long-term COVID symptoms and it's possible we've missed lo…
Think of it this way: your body has machinery built to combat pathogens. If there are no pathogens to fight, the bar for what is considered a pathogen lowers until eventually those machines are attacking healthy tissue and can cause many issues. Allergies, Lupus, and many others are already caused by similar mechanisms, and pushing society into ever more clean states will likely lead to more issues. The only real cur…
Agreed with this entirely, see my nearby comment.
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
So far they believe all the know strains are still covered. Nobody knows if that will continue to be the case. The MRNA vaccines are targeting the spike protein, which is what gives it many of it's infectious properties. If it does mutate to change or eliminate that spike, we might get lucky and those strains won't be as serious, but nobody can predict the future.
Just an FYI, spike protein is used by virus as means of entering a healthy host's cell. Without it virus becomes like a c4 without detonation cap. More less harmless.
Yeah, if it loses it entirely it would be pretty much harmless. But if it changes sufficiently, that's where we wouldn't know if it's better or worse.
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
In some peoples mind even questioning or being skeptical of many of the more extreme covid claims and actions is extremely dangerous. According to some “experts” we shouldn’t be allowed to research covid, look at public covid data sets, or even think very hard about it. We should, instead, have almost complete blind faith in a handful of “experts” and just roll over and do whatever they recommend. A ton of our action…
To be fair, some random persons datapoint wrangling can (and usually does) have large number of eyeballs than a life long trained professional with a PhD. While the data should be public and object to scrutiny (ideally by other experts in scientific community), how much insight would untrained people actually get? Apart from alternative facts and "just a flu". Many popular blog posts and opinions were proven to be fl…
I still would rather trust WHO/CDC (who have been proven incorrect multiple times)
The problem is that when you use your authority to push something, and that something turns out to have been wrong or even a patronizing lie (e.g. masks, percentage of population required for herd immunity, predicted length of the pandemic), you lose all respect for your authority. See also "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#109Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Different kind of microbes. Human communicable diseases in cities, dirt microbes in farms.
Someone put forth the example of polio. It was endemic but not epidemic till the rise of cities facilitated transmission.
Polio is a bit more complicated than that. It's usually harmless in infants; it became a major public health concern only when hygiene resulted in it being contracted later.
Epstein-Barr is similar, causing mononucleosis in teenagers but only mild symptoms in children.