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Comment by harikb | Hacker News Reader

Wait! Are we becoming less immune with this isolation :o

I saw it speculated that one of the reasons children are more resistant to COVID-19 is that they have strong immune systems due to the constant challenge of new viruses they are exposed to at school. But now they aren't at school.

Eh... children are always more physically robust. For diseases... it's very specific to the disease. Some diseases are particularly nasty to children. Some are particularly harmless to children. That's not a pattern you expect to see if the immune system is measured along a one-dimensional scale of "strength".

Not a doctor but my suspicion is..probably not unless your isolation resembles a bubble. We still go to the store, eat the food, etc. You have basic immunity at-large but not to the local variations that you catch them when you travel. The local variations evolve without you when you go to antarctica for a while.

The more serious infections (cold, flu, covid) aren't a "gradual" immunity thing, they're individual strains that pack a hard punch in comparison to everything else. In part because we don't see anything super close to them on a regular basis.

Thankfully I would expect all of this isolation to soften next year's flu season quite a bit.

Yes. :o

Even worse, people aren't getting their flu shots (and other elective things) because they don't want to risk going to the doctors.

So when we get out of this covid jail... get ready for some interesting charts from the CDC.

Supposing there's a reliable CDC left after this is all said and done. Might get dismantled from within as a scapegoat.

Its not a scapegoat -- the CDC is extremely well-funded and has a singular mission -- and is doing a quantifiably terrible job. They downplayed the North America risk the first two months of 2020, utterly botched testing but still refused to allow private lab testing until the White House intervened, and they literally lied to the public about the efficacy of masks. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/us/cdc-coronavirus.html

This video [1] made me sad at the time because I could see it coming. The downplay of the severity along with the usage of masks doesn't age well.

I was coming from Vietnam and early on the govt. wasn't taking it seriously enough and had some major outbreaks. But they immediately got it under control. Contact tracing, testing, lockdowns, spraying, masks, hand washing, propaganda... and look... it worked. Zero deaths, zero new cases in 90+ days now. The whole country is open within its borders and people are safely interacting without any worries.

So, while I think the CDC is doing an ok job... at the end of the day, they totally missed the tidal wave coming at them.

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/02/17/nih-di...

In their defence, this happened in most countries in Europe as well. Not sure if incompetence or hubris to be honest (though the mask wearing should be criminal, and imo, is one of the reasons some people refuse to wear them now, based on those comments 3/4 months ago they weren't effective)

The CDC is part of the executive branch and ultimately has no authority to go against the president's wishes or do anything he doesn't want. Just recently, they said they're not pushing for mandatory mask regulations to not embarrass the president. An agency like this, with no power to do what is right, is completely useless. Still, while I don't trust them one bit now, they don't deserve to be blamed for something they are not in control of. Proper blame lies with the leadership of the executive branch, the white house and ultimately the president. That's where the buck stops and no amount of wishing on their part will ever change that.

This seems to be a big problem with USA in general - political appointees in fields where objective truth is vital.

Having a legal system that can't arrest, charge, prosecute anyone because politics says not to means you don't have rule of law. If someone is recorded saying they committed sex offences then they should get a police interview regardless of their job.

Having a disease control department that can't give scientific advice because a political appointee won't like it; might as well close that department, it's no longer useful. Or, you could address the root issue.

So when we get out of this covid jail

At the current rate I am wondering if we get out, not when, lol

We will. Thank God its not Ebola and while COVID has high rate of infection it kills small % of sick relatively speaking. Eventually we will build up hoard immunity, but left alone it could easily take until end of next year and it reminds Russia rullette. Sad that CDC and President didn’t standup to the task but I wasn’t suprised. Then there is VP who singlehandy is responsible for the largest outbreak of HIV in USA. So it could be worse. Inagine something as deadly as Ebola that spreads as easily as COVID. These folks who are proud to excercise their freedom because US Constitution doesnt force them to wear masks, wouldn’t have any Constitution left to enjoy at all.

> wouldn’t have any Constitution left to enjoy at all.

Pun intended?

Do you still trust the CDC? One unfortunate side effect of the pandemic is that my trust in the CDC went from absolute to non-existent. They’ve shown themselves willing to bend to politics instead of siding with science.

Well, I blame this administration generally seeking appointments that will bend the knee over science.

Plenty of prior administrations appointment science-bound officials that held the line.

> One unfortunate side effect of the pandemic is that my trust in the CDC went from absolute to non-existent.

Why is that effect unfortunate?

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