8 ms·

Heart disease and cancer aren't contagious, so your actions on that front will only improve your own life, while being a bit more careful with covid will poten

Heart disease and cancer aren't contagious, so your actions on that front will only improve your own life, while being a bit more careful with covid will potentially prevent sickness in a lot of people.

chitowneats 5y ago
Social contagion is real. The U.S. has much higher rates of illness and death due to complications from obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc, than other developed countries, because of our shared culture of poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. You pass on your way of life to your children. Your friends and family reinforce each other's decisions every time you make a meal, make plans, etc. This stuff is all vitally important. And in fact, we would have lower rates of covid fatality if a larger percentage of our population took this seriously.
- cornel_io 5y ago
  Lifestyle changes are really really hard for people to make, though I agree that it would be great if someone figured out a way to turn that tide. Luckily getting a shot is really really easy, so we do have a lot of influence over deaths from COVID.
  - chitowneats 5y ago
    I agree with the point you've made. The OP I was responding to in my first comment seemed to be suggesting something more extreme than, "get vaccinated, and then go live your life".
- polytely 5y ago
  Fair point, but from a perspective of effort vs potential lives saved, self-quarantining when sick, avoiding large crowds & meeting in well ventilated spaces is probably easier than adopting a healthier lifestyle. But yeah, we should also live healthier!
  - chitowneats 5y ago
    Absolutely. Everyone should self-quarantine when sick. Is it your sense that large numbers of Americans aren't doing this? Anecdotally, I haven't seen a visibly sick person, outside of my immediate family, in a long, long time (needless to say, I don't work in a healthcare setting). Arguably, retrofitting every important building in the country to be well ventilated is a challenge on a similar scale to changing our deeply ingrained unhealthy cultural habits.
    - polytely 5y ago
      Not American (I'm in the Netherlands) so I wouldn't know, but looking at the graphs it seems like there are a lot of contagions happening. I was getting take out a couple of weeks ago and a woman brought her coughing child to the restaurant, which doesn't seem great, so I have noticed people being less alert now that a significant portion of people has been vaccinated here. >Arguably, retrofitting every important building in the country to be well ventilated is a challenge on a similar scale to changing our deeply ingrained unhealthy cultural habits. Yeah, I hadn't looked at it that way, but that's indeed a big task.
tommymachine 5y ago
So heart disease and cancer don't take up ICU beds?
- polytely 5y ago
  Not what I wrote at all. But to respond to your point(?) covid patients that get sick enough to go to the ICU are there for a long time, while heart patients get better (or die) significantly faster, I recently heard an ICU doctor say on TV here (the Netherlands) that a covid ICU bed could help up to 8 heart patients, which makes it extra important to reduce the amount of covid cases.
  - tommymachine 5y ago
    Do heart disease and cancer exacerbate covid conditions, putting more people in icu (and for longer) than if they didn't have those comorbidities?
    - polytely 5y ago
      Yes of course, just make your point already, this is not a chat, try to write a complete post.
      - tommymachine 5y ago
        So you're not winning the argument to take away my medical freedom, so now you want to tell me how I'm supposed to post on here? Addicted to tyranny much?
        polytely 5y ago
        >So you're not winning the argument to take away my medical freedom That wasn't what I was trying to do at all, and I can't really see how you could get that from my initial reply, so I don't think we are going to agree on anything here, have a nice day.
mensetmanusman 5y ago
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/07/obesity-is-contagious/ https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/07/obesity-is-co... Actually there has been a lot of research showing obesity as a social virus is contagious.
- dillondoyle 5y ago
  Off topic, but is there any research that connects the also burgeoning science of gut biome/bacteria to this? Maybe a total crazy stretch, but if our gut bacteria can be 'infectious', and if those bacteria have an affect on weight, that'd be crazy.
rkk3 5y ago
>Heart disease and cancer aren't contagious, so your actions on that front will only improve your own life No, they inflict massive negative externalities on society through healthcare. > while being a bit more careful with covid will potentially prevent sickness in a lot of people. Classic Safety-ism. Even today, 20 years after 9/11 and we are still paying a ludicrous price for this logic.
- nautilius 5y ago
  The ludicrous and horrible price - of wearing masks? You have a twisted logic, comparing terror attacks and follow-up global wars to the horrors you must be going through, masking up (or not) for the grocery store.
  - rkk3 5y ago
    Personal attacks aren't welcome on Hackernews. > The ludicrous and horrible price - of wearing masks? Of shutting down schools? of closing borders and separating families, which since you want to trivialize things I didn't bring up, a 3 year old in my family was separated from her mother for a year and a half. I didn't specify wearing masks.. but no one knows what the effect will be of kids wearing masks all day. They are at a time of critical development & learning to read faces, non verbally communicate etc. It may turn out to have a terrible price.
    - nautilius 5y ago
      Several hundred thousand people could have been saved in the US if these measures had been taken seriously, early enough, compared to other first world countries. Social distancing, closing schools, etc. were proven methods that showed the difference between cities with horrible losses and much better outcomes for the Spanish Flu. (Edit: Washington had his troops in the revolutionary war quarantined, separated, and inoculated when small pox became a problem. ) We knew all that. This weekend, we are mourning the tragical losses of a terror attack that cost the lives of 3000 innocent people. Because of people like you, who call proven measures against COVID ‘safety-isms’ we lose that many people every other day. If anything, we clearly didn’t do enough ‘safety-isms’.
inkblotuniverse 5y ago
Obesity is socially contagious, and causes higher rates of heart disease and cancer.
TeeMassive 5y ago
> Heart disease and cancer aren't contagious And? They still kill people and clog the healthcare systems around the world. Worse a lot of those are aggravated by obesity and smoking, all of which not only are voluntary actions but also generate profits. Also obesity is contagious: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1646997,00.html http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1646997,0... Also average Covid death age is only 4 years lower than the pre-pandemic life expectancy in the US. And what is the biggest aggravating factors for Covid-19? Obesity and smoking.

chitowneats 5y ago

Social contagion is real. The U.S. has much higher rates of illness and death due to complications from obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc, than other developed countries, because of our shared culture of poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. You pass on your way of life to your children. Your friends and family reinforce each other's decisions every time you make a meal, make plans, etc. This stuff is all vitally important. And in fact, we would have lower rates of covid fatality if a larger percentage of our population took this seriously.

cornel_io 5y ago
Lifestyle changes are really really hard for people to make, though I agree that it would be great if someone figured out a way to turn that tide. Luckily getting a shot is really really easy, so we do have a lot of influence over deaths from COVID.
- chitowneats 5y ago
  I agree with the point you've made. The OP I was responding to in my first comment seemed to be suggesting something more extreme than, "get vaccinated, and then go live your life".
polytely 5y ago
Fair point, but from a perspective of effort vs potential lives saved, self-quarantining when sick, avoiding large crowds & meeting in well ventilated spaces is probably easier than adopting a healthier lifestyle. But yeah, we should also live healthier!
- chitowneats 5y ago
  Absolutely. Everyone should self-quarantine when sick. Is it your sense that large numbers of Americans aren't doing this? Anecdotally, I haven't seen a visibly sick person, outside of my immediate family, in a long, long time (needless to say, I don't work in a healthcare setting). Arguably, retrofitting every important building in the country to be well ventilated is a challenge on a similar scale to changing our deeply ingrained unhealthy cultural habits.
  - polytely 5y ago
    Not American (I'm in the Netherlands) so I wouldn't know, but looking at the graphs it seems like there are a lot of contagions happening. I was getting take out a couple of weeks ago and a woman brought her coughing child to the restaurant, which doesn't seem great, so I have noticed people being less alert now that a significant portion of people has been vaccinated here. >Arguably, retrofitting every important building in the country to be well ventilated is a challenge on a similar scale to changing our deeply ingrained unhealthy cultural habits. Yeah, I hadn't looked at it that way, but that's indeed a big task.

tommymachine 5y ago

So heart disease and cancer don't take up ICU beds?

polytely 5y ago
Not what I wrote at all. But to respond to your point(?) covid patients that get sick enough to go to the ICU are there for a long time, while heart patients get better (or die) significantly faster, I recently heard an ICU doctor say on TV here (the Netherlands) that a covid ICU bed could help up to 8 heart patients, which makes it extra important to reduce the amount of covid cases.
- tommymachine 5y ago
  Do heart disease and cancer exacerbate covid conditions, putting more people in icu (and for longer) than if they didn't have those comorbidities?
  - polytely 5y ago
    Yes of course, just make your point already, this is not a chat, try to write a complete post.
    - tommymachine 5y ago
      So you're not winning the argument to take away my medical freedom, so now you want to tell me how I'm supposed to post on here? Addicted to tyranny much?
      - polytely 5y ago
        >So you're not winning the argument to take away my medical freedom That wasn't what I was trying to do at all, and I can't really see how you could get that from my initial reply, so I don't think we are going to agree on anything here, have a nice day.

mensetmanusman 5y ago

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/07/obesity-is-contagious/ https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/07/obesity-is-co... Actually there has been a lot of research showing obesity as a social virus is contagious.

dillondoyle 5y ago
Off topic, but is there any research that connects the also burgeoning science of gut biome/bacteria to this? Maybe a total crazy stretch, but if our gut bacteria can be 'infectious', and if those bacteria have an affect on weight, that'd be crazy.

rkk3 5y ago

>Heart disease and cancer aren't contagious, so your actions on that front will only improve your own life No, they inflict massive negative externalities on society through healthcare. > while being a bit more careful with covid will potentially prevent sickness in a lot of people. Classic Safety-ism. Even today, 20 years after 9/11 and we are still paying a ludicrous price for this logic.

nautilius 5y ago
The ludicrous and horrible price - of wearing masks? You have a twisted logic, comparing terror attacks and follow-up global wars to the horrors you must be going through, masking up (or not) for the grocery store.
- rkk3 5y ago
  Personal attacks aren't welcome on Hackernews. > The ludicrous and horrible price - of wearing masks? Of shutting down schools? of closing borders and separating families, which since you want to trivialize things I didn't bring up, a 3 year old in my family was separated from her mother for a year and a half. I didn't specify wearing masks.. but no one knows what the effect will be of kids wearing masks all day. They are at a time of critical development & learning to read faces, non verbally communicate etc. It may turn out to have a terrible price.
  - nautilius 5y ago
    Several hundred thousand people could have been saved in the US if these measures had been taken seriously, early enough, compared to other first world countries. Social distancing, closing schools, etc. were proven methods that showed the difference between cities with horrible losses and much better outcomes for the Spanish Flu. (Edit: Washington had his troops in the revolutionary war quarantined, separated, and inoculated when small pox became a problem. ) We knew all that. This weekend, we are mourning the tragical losses of a terror attack that cost the lives of 3000 innocent people. Because of people like you, who call proven measures against COVID ‘safety-isms’ we lose that many people every other day. If anything, we clearly didn’t do enough ‘safety-isms’.

inkblotuniverse 5y ago

Obesity is socially contagious, and causes higher rates of heart disease and cancer.

TeeMassive 5y ago

> Heart disease and cancer aren't contagious And? They still kill people and clog the healthcare systems around the world. Worse a lot of those are aggravated by obesity and smoking, all of which not only are voluntary actions but also generate profits. Also obesity is contagious: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1646997,00.html http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1646997,0... Also average Covid death age is only 4 years lower than the pre-pandemic life expectancy in the US. And what is the biggest aggravating factors for Covid-19? Obesity and smoking.