Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic • Hacker News Board

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#431

Post by chrismcb » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 8:59 PM UTC

rubicon33 wrote: post #318

aarondia wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This year was a great experiment in person hygiene. It was the healthiest I have ever been for a full year, no colds, stomach bugs, anything. I'm not sure which practices I'll continue, but its definitely shown me that I have wayyyy more control over my health than I previously thought. Curious what others think are the most effective continued practices. Seems like social distancing isn't super reasonable, but maybe…

You can do a LOT. I haven't been sick once in 6+ years because I do the following: 1) Almost never eat out. Home cooked meals that I've prepped / washed. This was single handedly the biggest factor that completely removed "getting sick" from my life. 2) Hand wash before touching face, or food. 3) Avoid sick people. If I hear someone coughing or sneezing, I move away from them. Call me a germ freak, I don't care, I've…

Probably 2 and 3 are bigger factors if not getting sick than 1. Although never eating out also reduces your exposure to others that may be sick. Of course avoiding people who cough and sneeze send a bit paranoid. I don't do any of those things, and precovid the only times I got sick were after a plane trip out standing in a long line for hours.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#432

Post by fallingfrog » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 8:59 PM UTC

psychlops wrote: post #416

fallingfrog wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually told people at the outset of the covid lockdowns, “at least we won’t have a flu season this year.” Then later on I saw people online floating this as some kind of conspiracy and I thought, “wait, this wasn’t obvious to everyone?”

Covid was this years flu season.

That is not correct: they are two different viruses.

Even if you’re making a loose analogy that’s still a poor comparison.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#433

Post by crocsarecool » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 8:59 PM UTC

f6v wrote: post #406

aarondia wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This year was a great experiment in person hygiene. It was the healthiest I have ever been for a full year, no colds, stomach bugs, anything. I'm not sure which practices I'll continue, but its definitely shown me that I have wayyyy more control over my health than I previously thought. Curious what others think are the most effective continued practices. Seems like social distancing isn't super reasonable, but maybe…

Usually my colleagues at the office didn’t wash their hands before eating and showed not so great overall hygiene. They also missed many days due to “stomach bug”. And then there’re people with children, they’re always sick. Yes, it’s been a great year in terms of not having to deal with many people. But I have to say I’m a bit worried it’ll go back to usual soon.

I am hoping people get serious about staying home if they’re sick. “I’m not contagious.” If you’re not contagious, then how did the whole office get wiped out?

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#434

Post by thelean12 » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 9:01 PM UTC

timr wrote: post #420

thelean12 wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People just desperately want to find evidence that the stuff we did this year made a huge difference. I don't think that's true at all. People have been receptive to the increased evidence that transmission on surfaces is pretty unlikely, for example, despite all the efforts we've put into sanitizing surfaces. I think most people can appreciate that all the shit we threw at the wall throughout the pandemic eventual…

To be clear: I'm not making a specific argument about masks vs. sanitizing vs. whatever here. I'm just saying: responses like the OP immediately leap to the conclusion that influenza went away because of all the stuff we did. It's an error in logic, driven by the emotional desire to believe that the stuff we did must have had a serious impact, and that anything else is not worth serious discussion. That's ideology, n…

I agree that leaping to conclusions isn't science. It doesn't get past the hypothesis stage and needs proper study.

That said, if the massive reduction in flu cases isn't a result of some or all of our Covid efforts, it'd be a hell of a coincidence.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#435

Post by Joker_vD » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

kat wrote: post #389

Joker_vD wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are... are those still a thing in the first world?

I'm going to guess most people here had short hair while in elementary school...you're all so lucky! I've always had clean thick long blonde hair, which happens to be lice's favourite hair type. Every time there was a lice outbreak in school, I got it. Its very much a thing in Canada still.

I grew up in a rural area in a second-world country, during the 90ies when the economy went from shitty to complete shit, and many people had to subsist on grazing, so to speak: I helped to plant (and then gather) potatoes, tomatoes and other vegetables in our backyard. But even then, lices were mostly something out of WW2-era stories, or something you'd get if you hanged out with local "wandering folk", I guess; I don't remember any lice cases in my school although we did have our hair checked in the elementary.

Then things generally improved and life is now much better; so what about the lices? According to the 2019 statistics, there were 200 cases of headlice per 100'000 children that year. Quite a number, but not a huge one, really.

So that's why I asked--if in a poor second-world country lices were almost a non-issue, then surely that means the rich first-world countries have managed to completely get rid off the lice, and much earlier, too? Right?

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#436

Post by splithalf » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

I hope reasonable people can see the potential for incentives to impact various public health measurements in ways that cannot yet be detected or well accounted for. Surely some aspect of flu disappearing is impacted by the priorities of thinly stretched medical personnel, what with a pandemic and all why would anybody test for flu? Who even tests patients for flu in the first place? It’s not recommended.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#437

Post by dfxm12 » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

aarondia wrote: post #300

gorbachev wrote: post #262

I was just commenting to a co-worker my entire family hasn't been sick since the pandemic started. That is very unusual for a family with young children. No flu, no stomach viruses, absolutely nothing for more than a year now. Thankfully no covid-19 either.

This year was a great experiment in person hygiene. It was the healthiest I have ever been for a full year, no colds, stomach bugs, anything. I'm not sure which practices I'll continue, but its definitely shown me that I have wayyyy more control over my health than I previously thought. Curious what others think are the most effective continued practices. Seems like social distancing isn't super reasonable, but maybe…

Stopping the spread of disease is on everyone. It's important to understand that the precautions we took helped to keep others healthy, as well. It's great to continue with your personal hygiene regiment, and it's even better when the people you interact with (and the people they interact with, etc.) do it too. So, do you what you've been doing & convince others to do the same.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#438

Post by timr » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

thelean12 wrote: post #434

timr wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear: I'm not making a specific argument about masks vs. sanitizing vs. whatever here. I'm just saying: responses like the OP immediately leap to the conclusion that influenza went away because of all the stuff we did. It's an error in logic, driven by the emotional desire to believe that the stuff we did must have had a serious impact, and that anything else is not worth serious discussion. That's ideology, n…

I agree that leaping to conclusions isn't science. It doesn't get past the hypothesis stage and needs proper study. That said, if the massive reduction in flu cases isn't a result of some or all of our Covid efforts, it'd be a hell of a coincidence.

> That said, if the massive reduction in flu cases isn't a result of some or all of our Covid efforts, it'd be a hell of a coincidence.

Mmmm...I wouldn't go that far. Like I said, my current preferred theory involves schools, but other plausible theories involve things like mutual inhibition: infection with one virus somehow interferes with infection by the other.

We have some evidence of this happening in the past. Strains of influenza have abruptly vanished due to this phenomena.

Certainly, I'd agree that this is interesting (which is pretty much where I end up on this, vs. the OP, who thinks the matter is settled.)

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#439

Post by collyw » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

daanlo wrote: post #352

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non virologist naive question, if we apply all these measures targeting SARS-COV2 and it also creates a massive negative pressure on flu viruses, is there a risk that this applies an adaptive pressure to select for a future uber infectious new flu strain?

My layman understanding is that it doesn‘t work that way. Less spread = less chance of mutation = less chance of uber infectious new flu strain.

It's potentially the opposite. Say you have a population of 1000. If one person infects ten others. Then its going to be 3 generations before 1000 are infected and full immunity is reached.

We go for a suppression strategy instead.If 1 person infects 1 other person (as we seem to be trying to achieve with corna) it is going to take 1000 generations before full immunity is achieved. There is going to be far more chance of mutations in 1000 generations of viral replication than in 3 generations.

Re: Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

#440

Post by nimvlaj30 » Thu, Apr 29, 2021, 9:05 PM UTC

bosswipe wrote: post #309

papito wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stomach viruses. Where in the world are you? No, seriously - where? Because here in the United States people don't wash their hands before eating. It's fucking gross. I always sanitize my hands with alcohol pads before eating out - ALWAYS. But the others grab subway poles, handles, those nasty menus, and THEN they grab that sandwich with the same hands . If anything should come out of this pandemic, it should be Amer…

I don't have data but my hunch is that being a germophobe leads to worse long term health outcomes. Your immune system needs the exercise.

Is washing your hands before eating being a "germophobe" or is it basic hygiene? How far back do we go in order to improve our immune system? Do we stop washing our hands ever? Do we stop washing taking showers?

There's obviously a balance with the best outcome. I doubt washing your hands before eating will make your immune system any worse.