3 ms·

I wish people had learned from covid and taken widespread illnesses more seriously. Before covid I was getting sick 5 to 8 times a year, thanks to coworkers. Si

I wish people had learned from covid and taken widespread illnesses more seriously. Before covid I was getting sick 5 to 8 times a year, thanks to coworkers. Since covid I am 100% WFH as is practically all of my company, and I've been sick exactly 1 time in 5 years. I mask indoors in public spaces during the seasonal spike in contagious viruses, and use hand sanitizer after touching anything like doorknobs or other surfaces a lot of people touch, like restaurant menus, etc. No, I am not hiding inside like some idiots seem to want to think I am. It really disappoints me that air filtration was not taken seriously during covid, it should have been mandated by the government and paid for by the government for public places like post offices, and there should have been tax credits given to businesses to install air filtration systems. But no, we've learned nothing, and people continue to get sick far more than they would have to if we only decided to do something about it with readily available mitigations. Of course, it also helps to not elect a malicious narcissist to lead us down a path of ignorance.

dehrmann 2y ago
I hope you realize you're doing an experiment with your health. We don't have studies on the long-term effects of this degree of isolation from everyday pathogens. It could go either way, but so much human adaptation is use it or lose it that my money's on worse long-term outcomes.
- lemonberry 2y ago
  Agreed. It's common for new teachers to get sick a lot during their first year. Then their immune system adapts. I was a bartender for over 20 year and never, i.e., very rarely, got sick. I'm pretty isolated now due to being a caregiver. Nearing the tailend of that role though and think often about how I am going to ease myself back into a regular life.
- leptons 2y ago
  >I hope you realize you're doing an experiment with your health. It was much more of an "experiment" before covid, getting every virus that came my way, to see how much damage it did to my body. There's a lot of evidence that even the regular flu causes irreparable damage to the body. https://www.health.com/condition/flu/flu-long-term-effects https://www.health.com/condition/flu/flu-long-term-effects So, you can keep your own experiment going if you like, but I'll take the experiment that doesn't result in heart complications, loss of endurance and strength, physical decline and secondary infections. You can keep performing that "experiment" all you want. >my money's on worse long-term outcomes. My bet is on living longer for not having contracted the flu 40 more times in my lifetime, or long-covid, which would erase a year of my life just living through it not to mention the toll it takes on the body. And getting the flu or a cold is not the only way to exercise the immune system, your immune system is constantly fighting pathogens. If it isn't then you'd be dead right now from something normally most people wouldn't die from because they have functioning immune systems. So, no I'm not concerned about my immune system not being able to fight off infection, it's doing that right now as we speak, and so is yours too whether you know it or not. It's also known that when the immune system is too aggressive, people also die from the immune response. A lot of people died from covid because their immune system was fighting too hard. Getting an avoidable disease certainly is quite a gamble.
dml2135 2y ago
5-8 times a year is a lot. You were really getting a cold every other month? I feel like 1-3 times a year is much more realistic. For me, that’s a small price to pay for social activity.
- leptons 2y ago
  Where did I say that I'm not socially active? I explicitly said that I'm not cowering inside afraid of the world. I just take precautions, and added precautions during spikes in seasonal viruses. Maybe my immune system is just not that great, and covid has taught me it doesn't have to mean guaranteed illness so many times a year. I do mask when appropriate. I don't mask when the risk is low. How am I not socially active?? Forget it, you don't know me at all.
  - dml2135 2y ago
    I’m sorry if I offended you — I meant social activity in the context of WFH, ie I was specifically talking about the social activity one gets at the office I’ll admit that I was throwing some shade — but I was really just implying that “5-8 times a year” seemed like an exaggeration to me, not that you are a hermit. Still, no need for that tone, so I apologize.

dehrmann 2y ago

I hope you realize you're doing an experiment with your health. We don't have studies on the long-term effects of this degree of isolation from everyday pathogens. It could go either way, but so much human adaptation is use it or lose it that my money's on worse long-term outcomes.

lemonberry 2y ago
Agreed. It's common for new teachers to get sick a lot during their first year. Then their immune system adapts. I was a bartender for over 20 year and never, i.e., very rarely, got sick. I'm pretty isolated now due to being a caregiver. Nearing the tailend of that role though and think often about how I am going to ease myself back into a regular life.
leptons 2y ago
>I hope you realize you're doing an experiment with your health. It was much more of an "experiment" before covid, getting every virus that came my way, to see how much damage it did to my body. There's a lot of evidence that even the regular flu causes irreparable damage to the body. https://www.health.com/condition/flu/flu-long-term-effects https://www.health.com/condition/flu/flu-long-term-effects So, you can keep your own experiment going if you like, but I'll take the experiment that doesn't result in heart complications, loss of endurance and strength, physical decline and secondary infections. You can keep performing that "experiment" all you want. >my money's on worse long-term outcomes. My bet is on living longer for not having contracted the flu 40 more times in my lifetime, or long-covid, which would erase a year of my life just living through it not to mention the toll it takes on the body. And getting the flu or a cold is not the only way to exercise the immune system, your immune system is constantly fighting pathogens. If it isn't then you'd be dead right now from something normally most people wouldn't die from because they have functioning immune systems. So, no I'm not concerned about my immune system not being able to fight off infection, it's doing that right now as we speak, and so is yours too whether you know it or not. It's also known that when the immune system is too aggressive, people also die from the immune response. A lot of people died from covid because their immune system was fighting too hard. Getting an avoidable disease certainly is quite a gamble.

dml2135 2y ago

5-8 times a year is a lot. You were really getting a cold every other month? I feel like 1-3 times a year is much more realistic. For me, that’s a small price to pay for social activity.

leptons 2y ago
Where did I say that I'm not socially active? I explicitly said that I'm not cowering inside afraid of the world. I just take precautions, and added precautions during spikes in seasonal viruses. Maybe my immune system is just not that great, and covid has taught me it doesn't have to mean guaranteed illness so many times a year. I do mask when appropriate. I don't mask when the risk is low. How am I not socially active?? Forget it, you don't know me at all.
- dml2135 2y ago
  I’m sorry if I offended you — I meant social activity in the context of WFH, ie I was specifically talking about the social activity one gets at the office I’ll admit that I was throwing some shade — but I was really just implying that “5-8 times a year” seemed like an exaggeration to me, not that you are a hermit. Still, no need for that tone, so I apologize.