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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
by 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 agoLifestyle 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 agoI 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 agoFair 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 agoAbsolutely. 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 agoNot 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.