3 ms·
Immunity and level of exposure are very tightly coupled. Children would ordinarily be exposed to a variety of viruses from birth. Most encounters with a virus h
by axg11 4y ago
Immunity and level of exposure are very tightly coupled. Children would ordinarily be exposed to a variety of viruses from birth. Most encounters with a virus happen at very low viral load (e.g. total number of virus particles you're exposed to). During lockdowns, the diversity of viruses that children were exposed to dramatically dropped. Newborns and young children were now only exposed to viruses that were already in their household. Hence, young children have likely developed immunity to a smaller pool of viruses.
Once lockdowns ended, they were then exposed to many viruses their immune systems had never seen. Some of these exposures would be at low viral load, giving them a chance to build immunity. Some of these exposures would be at high viral load, overwhelming their immune system and leading to illness.
- malloci 4y agoIt’s not as if kids coming out of lockdown are suddenly exposed to a disproportionately higher number / load of virii than if they were exposed at a younger age.
- tremon 4y agoWhat do you mean, exactly? Yes, the situation seems to be that kids coming out of lockdown are suddenly exposed to a disproportionately higher number of new virii in a short time than if they had been gradually exposed to them over the previous two years.
- malloci 4y agoI mean that the viral loads they'd be exposed to in year 3 (post lockdown) would be the same as the loads they would have been exposed to in year 1 if there had been no lockdown.
- xboxnolifes 4y agoA person's immune system is different in year 1 than in year 3 (and in basically all other variations of N and N+2).