Mail Handlers Used to Poke Holes in Envelopes to Battle Germs and Viruses | Hacker News Reader

Mail Handlers Used to Poke Holes in Envelopes to Battle Germs and Viruses

smithsonianmag.com

23 pointsdiodorus7 comments

> And then there were the anthrax attacks in 2001. The Postal Service soon began irradiating mail sent to zip codes in Washington D.C. associated with federal government agencies, AND STILL DOES.

A one time event, but we are saddled for life with security procedures and their associated costs that can never be ended. Just like 9/11 and the TSA's security procedures.

The relics of this pandemic like huge sneeze guards in businesses are probably going to be around for the next 30 years.

The one I'm most worried about is the acceptance of cash.

After giving in for a few weeks during the local height of the pandemic, I've come back to pay cash only. I hope everyone who cares does.

I don't mind some changes that were made though - like people respecting your personal space more, cleaning shopping carts (that was never done before), and personal hygiene like washing hands and sneezing.

But there are some problematic developments happening as well which should be stopped in their tracks; additional government powers with no deadline, tracking apps and the abuse of phone data, etc.

"Major Walter Reed, an Army surgeon, proved that mosquitos transmitted the virus that caused yellow fever"

If anyone else also asked himself how do you actually prove that - not surprisingly, you infect volunteers with a mosquito that has bitten an infected person. Multiple tests were needed to establish the exact timeframe when the person is contagious.

> The (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recognizes that while it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads

There was a rash of headlines back around May 20 in which news outlets proclaimed that the CDC had changed its guidance from saying that fomite transmission was a concern to wasn't a concern. It turns out that those headlines were based on nothing and those stories were debunked by the New York Times[1]. The CDC had been consistently saying that fomites were an unlikely route of transmission but had tweaked the wording on their website and news outlets jumped all over it as if it were based on new research.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/health/cdc-coronavirus-to...

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