8 ms·

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. T

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 had 0 sick days in 6+ years since I started taking these simple precautions. You don't even need to social distance... just avoid people if they're sick. SOME of this is impossible (on an air plane for example). Turns out, I very rarely travel so have likely just gotten lucky avoiding the dip shits that fly while sick.

allturtles 6y ago
4) Don't have children.
- ygra 6y ago
  ... that are in kindergarten / school. But yes, the lockdown a year ago was interesting in that I wasn't sick once. But when everyone is at home and you can't see anyone, there's no one to get sick from either.
  - JoBrad 6y ago
    Adopting adult kids is kind of awkward, though.
- tempestn 6y ago
  Don't know why you're downvoted; this is true. You can personally avoid opportunities for exposure all you want, but your 2-8ish year old kids will get colds regularly from daycare/school, and then will give them to you. I also didn't get sick from March-September 2020. Then schools re-opened here, and I was sick within 3 weeks, and then again a couple months later. And that's even with all the extra sanatization and distancing they were trying to do at school.
  - skeeter2020 6y ago
    don't forget that kids get sick for like 12 hours and you're knocked out for several days.
- f6v 6y ago
  There’s no way to avoid them even if you don’t have your own. There’s always a parent-colleague you have to deal with, unless you WFH.
- crowquill 6y ago
  And here comes the childfree brigade again.
incrudible 6y ago
I've done the same except for not eating out, same result. I regularly eat at places that perhaps are not the pinnacle of hygiene. Doesn't make a difference. My theory is that your mouth is already a cesspool where bacteria colonies fight it all out. It makes sense, because "safe" meal preparation is unnatural. Your nose/eyes are far more vulnerable.
- stjohnswarts 6y ago
  A biological warfare zone more or less in balance but a "cesspool" is kind of gross and unnecessary. Bacteria aren't all bad, and if your digestive tract was suddenly without them you'd die from malnutrition if you didn't get nutrients through an IV
sevencolors 6y ago
Well eating at home can also have failures. Few months ago I accidentally ate some hot sauce that should have been refrigerated but was stored on a room temp. shelf. Looked fine when i ate it but was violently sick for 3 days and thought i had covid :(
gjs278 6y ago
i’d rather be sick than live this pathetic life you are describing
thelean12 6y ago
On the other hand, I don't think I've ever gotten a cold/the flu, at least not since I was a young kid, and I don't take much care to do anything on your list. Sure, I'll wash my hands after using a restroom or before prepping food. But I'll definitely walk into a restaurant (pre-covid) and just start eating a burger without washing my hands first. I feel the biggest factor is just what body and immune system you have... Some people I know just get sick constantly, multiple times a year, and they don't seem to do much of anything differently than I do. I don't think they're secretly licking doorknobs when no one is looking.
- Mordisquitos 6y ago
  Even though the plural of anecdotes is not data, I must say that my personal experience matches yours as well. I pay no attention to disinfection or antiseptic cleanliness, and I can't remember the last time I was actually ill. In the good old days, whenever someone would "warn" me that they were a bit sick before hugging/sharing a bottle/shaking hands/etc, I would even joke “Don't worry, I don't believe in the germ theory of disease”, because in my personal experience it wasn't worth the effort to avoid it. Needless to say, that joke is now retired—not only because there are very good reasons to be cautious regarding COVID-19, but also because with so much bizarre denialism that has trended lately someone might even believe I was saying it seriously.
  - CodeGlitch 6y ago
    Damn I wish I had your immune system. Pre-covid I would get sick every September and probably 2 other times in the year (I would have the flu jab every November too!). I'm a germaphobe so wash my hands before eating, etc. I also try and stay fit, don't smoke and hardly drink alcohol. Unless there's a trick I'm missing here?
    - sebmellen 6y ago
      Just a thought — the trick might be trying to be less of a germaphobe to build up your immune system (not medical advice).
xadhominemx 6y ago
> 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. I highly doubt this is the case. And in any event, how would you know?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
varajelle 6y ago
I'm also lucky to be quite healthy, almost never sick, The last time I had a flu was probably somewhere around 2010, because I was still in my second to last job, which was the only time ever I had to take a couple of sick days But my lifestyle is quite different. When restaurants are not closed, I eat out at least twice a week. I don't often wash my hands. And touch my face all the time. I don't bother avoiding sick people because I don't think I'll get sick. I'm the opposite of germ freak. I don't like washing my appartment and people visiting me can easily see that. The social distancing rules had a big impact on me and the amount of social I get. I guess I'm just lucky with my health. Or maybe my hymune system is well trained. Who knows?
chrismcb 6y ago
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.
noja 6y ago
> 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. How do you know this was the biggest factor?
- rubicon33 6y ago
  I don't "know" for sure that it was, just like I dont "know" that ANY of these factors had anything to with me not getting sick. Maybe, it was all just luck. That said, I've been pretty good about hand washing and avoiding people my whole life. Having grown up in a medical family, personal hygiene was not something completely foreign to me. As a result, haven't had a history of being sick regularly, but it still could/would happen from time to time. It was after I stopped eating out that I completely stopped getting sick. I am not exaggerating when I say that in the last 6 years, I have been sick 0 times. That correlates perfectly with me stopping eating out. Correlation != causation, I know.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
tehlike 6y ago
I don't think your anecdata proves anything but your own experience. 1. I eat out a lot, including junk food every now and then. 2. Of course I hand wash, but i would not say "before touching face" per-se, but as often as you'd normally expect (restroom breaks, before preparing food and/or eating, after coming from outside). 3. I don't really run away from sick people. I simply am indifferent. I still never get sick, i used to, but probably haven't for more than 7 years.
- retrac 6y ago
  I've worked a variety of jobs. I tend to a lot of mild upper respiratory infections I recover from easily enough. The only things I could ever really link were routine public transit use. Or when I worked in a bar. When those were true I got sick a lot more than when they weren't.
  - tehlike 6y ago
    I'd imagine it has more to do with ventilation, maybe?
- rubicon33 6y ago
  Yes well, I would hope if you've learned nothing during this pandemic it's that there is no one-size-fits-all immune system. Some 20 year olds are dying from COVID, others are barely noticing they have symptoms. All suggestions are de facto "anecdata". What works for me, may not work for you. I used to get "food poisoning" once a year or so, but haven't ever since I stopped eating out. That you are more resilient to whatever food born illnesses I was encountering, does not invalidate my own experience.
  - tehlike 6y ago
    That's exactly what i said. I am actually in the "exposing yourself to decent variations of microbes is actually good for your long term health" camp. Not everyone can do that, of course, especially the immunocompromised. I get that. You are telling your experience as if it's one size fits all. It's not. There is a reasonable case to actually exposing kids and one's self to microbes early on. Similar story for food allergies - exposing kids early on actually helps them not have those allergies, for example. Anyway, like i said, not one size fits all, which is what I was against at in your argument. You made it sound like it was.
crazygringo 6y ago
Unfortunately if you take crowded subways or buses, or have meetings in small rooms with coworkers who have young children in school, none of that matters. You still WILL get sick. It doesn't matter how much you wash your hands, or cook food at home. Plenty of germs are airborne and linger. Unless you stay at home all day long, you're going to get sick. Now some people have much more effective immune systems than others, and a lot of that is just genetics. Sounds like you're exceptionally lucky here.
- irrational 6y ago
  Not if you wear a mask and wash your hands immediately afterwards. I haven’t been in an in person meeting since COVID started, but I’m wearing a mask to the next one I attend.
  - ryan_j_naughton 6y ago
    In Covid's case, wearing a mask only reduces the chance of you contracting the virus by 2%. The real reduction comes from the other person wearing a mask ~20% reduction). Thus, you can't simply choose to keep wearing masks and get significant reductions in getting sick. Everyone would have to keep wearing masks, which is very unlikely. Similarly, before the pandemic it was totally normal to go to parties with a cold or respiratory illness. I sincerely hope people keep the behavioral shift of not going to any events when sick, but humans are selfish and I bet they will largely return to their selfish ways
  - crazygringo 5y ago
    Not true. Wearing a mask is more to prevent spreading a virus you have, than to prevent you from getting a virus. In other words, the main benefit of masks is to prevent people with COVID or the flu from sneezing and infecting others. If you're healthy, wearing a mask is not going to provide a ton of protection from infectious people near you not wearing masks. A little bit of protection, but not a lot. So unless you can convince everyone else in your meeting to wear a mask as well, it's not going to make a major difference, sadly.
skeeter2020 6y ago
you're like a hedge fund manager who's made money 6+ years in a row; your day will come. You can't "avoid sick people" by moving away from those obviously sick. If that were the case this covid thing would have been easy. Best bet is your habbit avoided you catching hay fever from someone with seasonal allergies.
itsangaris 6y ago
In non-covid times I'm not nearly this precautious and am super lucky to basically never get sick. I'd be careful of drawing any meaningful conclusions based on just anecdotal experiences.
ketamine__ 6y ago
Studies seem to suggest that because of the air filtration and air flow that flying is one of the safest ways to travel with other people.
travisp 6y ago
I too rarely got sick for years, even with international travel. Until I had kids, which I notice you don't mention anywhere in your comment.
Broken_Hippo 6y ago
Sure.. but this also means that you don't have to take public transportation, that you probably don't have small children, and you likely don't work in a school, pharmacy, daycare or hospital. Bragging about sick days is hardly indicative. Many if not most places in the states don't give sick days, and folks are forced to go in when sick because they can't afford not to. I should now mention that I worked 8+ years at a pharmacy, and a school before that. I rarely got sick and I didn't do most of your precautions. Just basic hygiene, and got my flu shot every year. And I directly led folks to cough and cold medicines. Some of this time, I stopped to get coffee most days (there was a mcdonald's next door). I just get sick even less now, but that's mostly because my lifestyle naturally isolates me (not in a bad way). I'll also say that sick folks can - and do - get you sick before they show symptoms, and a lot of folks that cough or sneeze do not have any disease that you can catch: Smoking (pot or nicotine) causes coughing: Allergies and irritants cause both coughing and sneezing. You can only do so much. You've just been lucky and have a lifestyle that allowed you to keep away from people to an extent, though the hand washing does help out and honestly, if anyone picks up one of your habits, it really should be somewhat frequent hand washing.
globular-toast 6y ago
You can't avoid sick people if it's your boss at work. My old boss used to make fun of people if they stayed off with "the sniffles".

allturtles 6y ago

4) Don't have children.

ygra 6y ago
... that are in kindergarten / school. But yes, the lockdown a year ago was interesting in that I wasn't sick once. But when everyone is at home and you can't see anyone, there's no one to get sick from either.
- JoBrad 6y ago
  Adopting adult kids is kind of awkward, though.
tempestn 6y ago
Don't know why you're downvoted; this is true. You can personally avoid opportunities for exposure all you want, but your 2-8ish year old kids will get colds regularly from daycare/school, and then will give them to you. I also didn't get sick from March-September 2020. Then schools re-opened here, and I was sick within 3 weeks, and then again a couple months later. And that's even with all the extra sanatization and distancing they were trying to do at school.
- skeeter2020 6y ago
  don't forget that kids get sick for like 12 hours and you're knocked out for several days.
f6v 6y ago
There’s no way to avoid them even if you don’t have your own. There’s always a parent-colleague you have to deal with, unless you WFH.
crowquill 6y ago
And here comes the childfree brigade again.

incrudible 6y ago

I've done the same except for not eating out, same result. I regularly eat at places that perhaps are not the pinnacle of hygiene. Doesn't make a difference. My theory is that your mouth is already a cesspool where bacteria colonies fight it all out. It makes sense, because "safe" meal preparation is unnatural. Your nose/eyes are far more vulnerable.

stjohnswarts 6y ago
A biological warfare zone more or less in balance but a "cesspool" is kind of gross and unnecessary. Bacteria aren't all bad, and if your digestive tract was suddenly without them you'd die from malnutrition if you didn't get nutrients through an IV

sevencolors 6y ago

Well eating at home can also have failures. Few months ago I accidentally ate some hot sauce that should have been refrigerated but was stored on a room temp. shelf. Looked fine when i ate it but was violently sick for 3 days and thought i had covid :(

gjs278 6y ago

i’d rather be sick than live this pathetic life you are describing

thelean12 6y ago

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever gotten a cold/the flu, at least not since I was a young kid, and I don't take much care to do anything on your list. Sure, I'll wash my hands after using a restroom or before prepping food. But I'll definitely walk into a restaurant (pre-covid) and just start eating a burger without washing my hands first. I feel the biggest factor is just what body and immune system you have... Some people I know just get sick constantly, multiple times a year, and they don't seem to do much of anything differently than I do. I don't think they're secretly licking doorknobs when no one is looking.

Mordisquitos 6y ago
Even though the plural of anecdotes is not data, I must say that my personal experience matches yours as well. I pay no attention to disinfection or antiseptic cleanliness, and I can't remember the last time I was actually ill. In the good old days, whenever someone would "warn" me that they were a bit sick before hugging/sharing a bottle/shaking hands/etc, I would even joke “Don't worry, I don't believe in the germ theory of disease”, because in my personal experience it wasn't worth the effort to avoid it. Needless to say, that joke is now retired—not only because there are very good reasons to be cautious regarding COVID-19, but also because with so much bizarre denialism that has trended lately someone might even believe I was saying it seriously.
- CodeGlitch 6y ago
  Damn I wish I had your immune system. Pre-covid I would get sick every September and probably 2 other times in the year (I would have the flu jab every November too!). I'm a germaphobe so wash my hands before eating, etc. I also try and stay fit, don't smoke and hardly drink alcohol. Unless there's a trick I'm missing here?
  - sebmellen 6y ago
    Just a thought — the trick might be trying to be less of a germaphobe to build up your immune system (not medical advice).

xadhominemx 6y ago

> 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. I highly doubt this is the case. And in any event, how would you know?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

varajelle 6y ago

I'm also lucky to be quite healthy, almost never sick, The last time I had a flu was probably somewhere around 2010, because I was still in my second to last job, which was the only time ever I had to take a couple of sick days But my lifestyle is quite different. When restaurants are not closed, I eat out at least twice a week. I don't often wash my hands. And touch my face all the time. I don't bother avoiding sick people because I don't think I'll get sick. I'm the opposite of germ freak. I don't like washing my appartment and people visiting me can easily see that. The social distancing rules had a big impact on me and the amount of social I get. I guess I'm just lucky with my health. Or maybe my hymune system is well trained. Who knows?

chrismcb 6y ago

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.

noja 6y ago

> 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. How do you know this was the biggest factor?

rubicon33 6y ago
I don't "know" for sure that it was, just like I dont "know" that ANY of these factors had anything to with me not getting sick. Maybe, it was all just luck. That said, I've been pretty good about hand washing and avoiding people my whole life. Having grown up in a medical family, personal hygiene was not something completely foreign to me. As a result, haven't had a history of being sick regularly, but it still could/would happen from time to time. It was after I stopped eating out that I completely stopped getting sick. I am not exaggerating when I say that in the last 6 years, I have been sick 0 times. That correlates perfectly with me stopping eating out. Correlation != causation, I know.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

tehlike 6y ago

I don't think your anecdata proves anything but your own experience. 1. I eat out a lot, including junk food every now and then. 2. Of course I hand wash, but i would not say "before touching face" per-se, but as often as you'd normally expect (restroom breaks, before preparing food and/or eating, after coming from outside). 3. I don't really run away from sick people. I simply am indifferent. I still never get sick, i used to, but probably haven't for more than 7 years.

retrac 6y ago
I've worked a variety of jobs. I tend to a lot of mild upper respiratory infections I recover from easily enough. The only things I could ever really link were routine public transit use. Or when I worked in a bar. When those were true I got sick a lot more than when they weren't.
- tehlike 6y ago
  I'd imagine it has more to do with ventilation, maybe?
rubicon33 6y ago
Yes well, I would hope if you've learned nothing during this pandemic it's that there is no one-size-fits-all immune system. Some 20 year olds are dying from COVID, others are barely noticing they have symptoms. All suggestions are de facto "anecdata". What works for me, may not work for you. I used to get "food poisoning" once a year or so, but haven't ever since I stopped eating out. That you are more resilient to whatever food born illnesses I was encountering, does not invalidate my own experience.
- tehlike 6y ago
  That's exactly what i said. I am actually in the "exposing yourself to decent variations of microbes is actually good for your long term health" camp. Not everyone can do that, of course, especially the immunocompromised. I get that. You are telling your experience as if it's one size fits all. It's not. There is a reasonable case to actually exposing kids and one's self to microbes early on. Similar story for food allergies - exposing kids early on actually helps them not have those allergies, for example. Anyway, like i said, not one size fits all, which is what I was against at in your argument. You made it sound like it was.

crazygringo 6y ago

Unfortunately if you take crowded subways or buses, or have meetings in small rooms with coworkers who have young children in school, none of that matters. You still WILL get sick. It doesn't matter how much you wash your hands, or cook food at home. Plenty of germs are airborne and linger. Unless you stay at home all day long, you're going to get sick. Now some people have much more effective immune systems than others, and a lot of that is just genetics. Sounds like you're exceptionally lucky here.

irrational 6y ago
Not if you wear a mask and wash your hands immediately afterwards. I haven’t been in an in person meeting since COVID started, but I’m wearing a mask to the next one I attend.
- ryan_j_naughton 6y ago
  In Covid's case, wearing a mask only reduces the chance of you contracting the virus by 2%. The real reduction comes from the other person wearing a mask ~20% reduction). Thus, you can't simply choose to keep wearing masks and get significant reductions in getting sick. Everyone would have to keep wearing masks, which is very unlikely. Similarly, before the pandemic it was totally normal to go to parties with a cold or respiratory illness. I sincerely hope people keep the behavioral shift of not going to any events when sick, but humans are selfish and I bet they will largely return to their selfish ways
- crazygringo 5y ago
  Not true. Wearing a mask is more to prevent spreading a virus you have, than to prevent you from getting a virus. In other words, the main benefit of masks is to prevent people with COVID or the flu from sneezing and infecting others. If you're healthy, wearing a mask is not going to provide a ton of protection from infectious people near you not wearing masks. A little bit of protection, but not a lot. So unless you can convince everyone else in your meeting to wear a mask as well, it's not going to make a major difference, sadly.

skeeter2020 6y ago

you're like a hedge fund manager who's made money 6+ years in a row; your day will come. You can't "avoid sick people" by moving away from those obviously sick. If that were the case this covid thing would have been easy. Best bet is your habbit avoided you catching hay fever from someone with seasonal allergies.

itsangaris 6y ago

In non-covid times I'm not nearly this precautious and am super lucky to basically never get sick. I'd be careful of drawing any meaningful conclusions based on just anecdotal experiences.

ketamine__ 6y ago

Studies seem to suggest that because of the air filtration and air flow that flying is one of the safest ways to travel with other people.

travisp 6y ago

I too rarely got sick for years, even with international travel. Until I had kids, which I notice you don't mention anywhere in your comment.

Broken_Hippo 6y ago

Sure.. but this also means that you don't have to take public transportation, that you probably don't have small children, and you likely don't work in a school, pharmacy, daycare or hospital. Bragging about sick days is hardly indicative. Many if not most places in the states don't give sick days, and folks are forced to go in when sick because they can't afford not to. I should now mention that I worked 8+ years at a pharmacy, and a school before that. I rarely got sick and I didn't do most of your precautions. Just basic hygiene, and got my flu shot every year. And I directly led folks to cough and cold medicines. Some of this time, I stopped to get coffee most days (there was a mcdonald's next door). I just get sick even less now, but that's mostly because my lifestyle naturally isolates me (not in a bad way). I'll also say that sick folks can - and do - get you sick before they show symptoms, and a lot of folks that cough or sneeze do not have any disease that you can catch: Smoking (pot or nicotine) causes coughing: Allergies and irritants cause both coughing and sneezing. You can only do so much. You've just been lucky and have a lifestyle that allowed you to keep away from people to an extent, though the hand washing does help out and honestly, if anyone picks up one of your habits, it really should be somewhat frequent hand washing.

globular-toast 6y ago

You can't avoid sick people if it's your boss at work. My old boss used to make fun of people if they stayed off with "the sniffles".