quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
First, know that I'm not even remotely Anti-Vax.

But it just occurred to me that I can't even remember the last time I've had a Flu shot. I've no idea, off hand. It's been years. Many years.

Is that dumb? Am I wrong or being foolish? I'm a healthy dude, about 50 now, pretty fit for a non-professional athlete, etc. But I don't get sick much. Thr ocasional cold or brief seasonal allergies maybe.

I'm not "making some stand", really I just never think of it or worry about it.

Should I, anyway? I guess I don't know the correct answer to that (,musing, thinking aloud).

Hmmm.

quote:

Originally posted by amals:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:
I use a corny trick a PT friend gave me when I fly commercial - Take antibiotic ointment like bacitracin or neosporin (if you don’t have common allergy to neomycin), squirt some on a Q-tip and wipe it around the inside of your nostril. Turn it around goop up the other end and hit your other nostril. You now have a sticky physical barrier to stop people’s funk from getting to you through your sinuses and an antibiotic effect too.

I dunno if it works, but I’ve not gotten sick on a flight since I started doing it. Nope, I don’t fly commercial enough for that to mean much statistically, but it doesn’t appear to hurt anything either.

I'm not sure antibiotics will be very helpful against a virus like the flu or the coronavirus. But i suppose it will act as a barrier of some sort. One still has to breath though.

My grandmother taught us that trick way back when I was a child in the fifties/sixties. She suggested Vaseline, but the idea was similar. Not so much antibiotic, but a barrier, and perhaps the notion "germs don't do well in grease", or some such. Don't know if that's true or not, but the idea of a barrier covering your mucus membranes does make sense to me, as does the idea that it can help heal dry, cracked membranes so they function better. Any docs want to comment?

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
The (understanding) anatomy of the respiratory system reveals that a little ointment in the nostrils, is like lining the bank of a river with a towel, in an effort to dam the water.

The towel will get wet, but nearly all the water in the river is going to laugh at the towels.

Nostril hair, adenoids and the mucous membranes capture most pollen, dust, a lot of viral and bacterial matter, and the immune system deals with things that it can. It's why we only have a light response to most things.

But the nostrils are pretty much useless in preventing virus and bacteria from getting into the deeper part of the respiratory system.

They are only about 1% of the tracts that are actually where a virus is going to come in contact.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones: Based upon a little common sense, most of what I have read leads me to believe that the infection count in the United States and abroad is probably much larger than reported. I'd wager to bet that the goes for the number that are deceased as well.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Going out of our way to comment about the concerns of others is a common way of validating our own lack of action. Very often the ones who are most vocal in ridiculing people who take protective measures know in their heart of hearts that they should be doing something themselves, but they don’t want the trouble and inconvenience. An extremely common example are the people who want private gun ownership banned because they don’t like the idea of having to defend themselves.

Is there anything the average American should be doing now? There’s no way of knowing at this time how the epidemic will progress. Will stocking up on toilet paper or bottled water be a wise move? Well, it certainly can’t hurt at any time, and the people who question why it might be a good idea don’t understand the possible consequences of a serious pandemic. Anyone who has been paying the slightest attention should know by now that this disease has already affected the supply chain of various goods and materials. What happens if things get bad enough that our local plant stops treating our water because of lack of personnel to operate it or because it can’t get the necessary chemicals to do the job?

Plus, as I’ve pointed out before, the effects of a disease on society are not limited to how they affect the individual sufferer. Whether we like it or not, how it affects the behavior of those who don’t have it is just as important, if not more so.

Then there’s the morality rate of the disease. A two percent rate, or one in 50 doesn’t sound too dangerous, but consider what that means to us and the people we know.

My small agency has 25 employees. A 2% death rate means there is a 98% chance that any specific infected individual will survive. If only 12 of those people contract the disease, however, the chance that all will survive drops to 78%, i.e., there is a 22% chance—one in five—that one will die. And then what about their families? Assuming an average family size of three, and that 36 develop the disease, the probability that at least one of those people who are relatively close to me will die increases to over 50 percent. Another way to look at a two percent mortality rate is if half of the people in my small county (~3500) develop the disease, 70 would die.
(I agree, however, that the mortality rate of COVID-19 is probably much less than two percent because there are many undiagnosed cases. But regardless of what the true rate is, we owe it to ourselves to understand what such figures mean.)

As for whether people are “panicking,” I’m reminded of that movie line, “You keep saying that word, but I don’t believe it means what you think it means.” We have seen nothing close to a panicked reaction to the disease in this country thus far. If the BS news media is hyping the situation in an effort to keep their viewers enthralled (and tuned in), people who are equating concern and precautions with panic aren’t helping either.

“I am prudent, you are fearful, he is panicking.”

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
First, know that I'm not even remotely Anti-Vax.

But it just occurred to me that I can't even remember the last time I've had a Flu shot. I've no idea, off hand. It's been years. Many years.

Is that dumb? Am I wrong or being foolish? I'm a healthy dude, about 50 now, pretty fit for a non-professional athlete, etc. But I don't get sick much. Thr ocasional cold or brief seasonal allergies maybe.

I'm not "making some stand", really I just never think of it or worry about it.

Should I, anyway? I guess I don't know the correct answer to that (,musing, thinking aloud).

Hmmm.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
A lesson I learned back in 2008 is that I don’t only need to prepare for a threat, but also for the public’s perception of that threat. Back in 2008 I had no concern that Obama was going to pass sweeping gun control. And I was 100% correct. But that didn’t matter one bit when I wanted to buy a box of 9mm. The mass fear of a gun ban turned it to mini reality for several years.

quote:

Originally posted by ergoproxy:... what would you do without tp then? ...

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
The bears will be using rabbits. I guess some of these folks are pretty young, not remembering that toilet paper is relatively new. Sears Catalogues and corn cobs were staples in most outhouses not that long ago.