4 ms·

Their point still stands. What is the point of bringing up a unique point in time where confining everyone in their houses reduced interaction with this partic

Their point still stands. What is the point of bringing up a unique point in time where confining everyone in their houses reduced interaction with this particular bacteria? The article paints those measures as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed.

orf 2y ago
I don’t read it that way at all. That seems like an overly sensitive interpretation. It’s possible people wash their hands less since COVID restrictions were lifted, or some other knock-on effect. > … as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed. Less “flesh-eating bacteria” in the world is probably always a good thing, independent of anything else.
simmerup 2y ago
The article does nothing of the sort. It just states what the WHO said. Whether you choose to infer that the author thought covid restrictions were good/bad is your own projection
eidjcnkak 2y ago
Not sure if you’re aware but there’s been strong arguments made that Covid impairs the immune system. One hypothesis was that it could tip things that wouldn’t spread over the line from defeated by most humans to defeated by less humans than necessary to avoid spread. Something like R>1 from 0.9
ziml77 2y ago
Or it could be to indicate that a rise is expected since people are being less careful about spreading disease? Or it could be to say that the restrictions caused immune systems to not be exercised enough so now they are weaker?
criley2 2y ago
>The article paints those measures as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed. I got a totally different vibe: Japan is notoriously xenophobic and maintained extremely strict regulations on visitors that were far more stringent than western countries. So the framing here sounds like a Japanese perspective: "we didn't want you to come, and we started to let you back in, and look what happened to us" which is probably a popular sentiment there.
tessierashpool 2y ago
their “point” does not stand. they don’t even have a point. they cherry-picked an ideological hot button to be mad about for no legitimate reason. it is absurd to suggest those measures were not a good thing, and factually inaccurate to say that the article expresses or implies any opinion about them whatsoever. it doesn’t. it’s an article about a rise in cases. it mentions when the cases started rising.
- vsnf 2y ago
  please don’t mistake me for some kind of anti-vaccine anti-mask zealot. Having diligently participated in all the responsible social and personal anti-covid measures, my take on the article remains that it was a bizarre choice for the author to so directly entangle the two things together. CDC comments not withstanding, the flesh eating bacteria is enough of an eye catching story on its own, it doesn’t need to be attached to another horrible disease to be an interesting article.
  - pohl 2y ago
    There’s nothing bizarre at all about mentioning the recent prominent contagious disease crisis in an article about another rising contagion. It would be kind of weird not to.
    - vsnf 2y ago
      I think I’m being misinterpreted, which is on me for being unclear. To address a sibling commenter first: no, I don’t think any mention of covid is a political statement, that’d be absurd. We all experienced the mayhem, fear, and uncertainty together, and most of us, though sadly not all of us, made it out alive. It itself is not political. But it is often made to be. I find the articles opening sentence is phrased in a way as to be invoking a boogeyman, not least to which is because covid restrictions in japan were relaxed two years ago. The phrasing implies a strongly direct correlation, rather than a more nebulous one where all diseases would increase by the same reduction in measures. The overt entanglement in the opening sentence feels like baiting a response by disingenuous or superfluous association. The article would have stood stronger on its own legs, I feel.
_Microft 2y ago
Kikuchi urged people to maintain hand hygiene and to treat any open wounds. People washed and disinfected their hands a lot more often and thoroughly during the pandemic. At least here in Germany. They stopped shaking hands, washed them thoroughly (at least twenty seconds, using soap) and disinfected them when entering or leaving stores. Now they shake hands again and the disinfectant is gone. Who knows how everyone is washing their hands today. It’s not far fetched to suspect that this behavior might have helped.

orf 2y ago

I don’t read it that way at all. That seems like an overly sensitive interpretation. It’s possible people wash their hands less since COVID restrictions were lifted, or some other knock-on effect. > … as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed. Less “flesh-eating bacteria” in the world is probably always a good thing, independent of anything else.

simmerup 2y ago

The article does nothing of the sort. It just states what the WHO said. Whether you choose to infer that the author thought covid restrictions were good/bad is your own projection

eidjcnkak 2y ago

Not sure if you’re aware but there’s been strong arguments made that Covid impairs the immune system. One hypothesis was that it could tip things that wouldn’t spread over the line from defeated by most humans to defeated by less humans than necessary to avoid spread. Something like R>1 from 0.9

ziml77 2y ago

Or it could be to indicate that a rise is expected since people are being less careful about spreading disease? Or it could be to say that the restrictions caused immune systems to not be exercised enough so now they are weaker?

criley2 2y ago

>The article paints those measures as if they were a good thing and now things have regressed. I got a totally different vibe: Japan is notoriously xenophobic and maintained extremely strict regulations on visitors that were far more stringent than western countries. So the framing here sounds like a Japanese perspective: "we didn't want you to come, and we started to let you back in, and look what happened to us" which is probably a popular sentiment there.

tessierashpool 2y ago

their “point” does not stand. they don’t even have a point. they cherry-picked an ideological hot button to be mad about for no legitimate reason. it is absurd to suggest those measures were not a good thing, and factually inaccurate to say that the article expresses or implies any opinion about them whatsoever. it doesn’t. it’s an article about a rise in cases. it mentions when the cases started rising.

vsnf 2y ago
please don’t mistake me for some kind of anti-vaccine anti-mask zealot. Having diligently participated in all the responsible social and personal anti-covid measures, my take on the article remains that it was a bizarre choice for the author to so directly entangle the two things together. CDC comments not withstanding, the flesh eating bacteria is enough of an eye catching story on its own, it doesn’t need to be attached to another horrible disease to be an interesting article.
- pohl 2y ago
  There’s nothing bizarre at all about mentioning the recent prominent contagious disease crisis in an article about another rising contagion. It would be kind of weird not to.
  - vsnf 2y ago
    I think I’m being misinterpreted, which is on me for being unclear. To address a sibling commenter first: no, I don’t think any mention of covid is a political statement, that’d be absurd. We all experienced the mayhem, fear, and uncertainty together, and most of us, though sadly not all of us, made it out alive. It itself is not political. But it is often made to be. I find the articles opening sentence is phrased in a way as to be invoking a boogeyman, not least to which is because covid restrictions in japan were relaxed two years ago. The phrasing implies a strongly direct correlation, rather than a more nebulous one where all diseases would increase by the same reduction in measures. The overt entanglement in the opening sentence feels like baiting a response by disingenuous or superfluous association. The article would have stood stronger on its own legs, I feel.

_Microft 2y ago

Kikuchi urged people to maintain hand hygiene and to treat any open wounds. People washed and disinfected their hands a lot more often and thoroughly during the pandemic. At least here in Germany. They stopped shaking hands, washed them thoroughly (at least twenty seconds, using soap) and disinfected them when entering or leaving stores. Now they shake hands again and the disinfectant is gone. Who knows how everyone is washing their hands today. It’s not far fetched to suspect that this behavior might have helped.