Comment by procombo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by procombo | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> Almost impossible not to give it to others.

Your facts are old, very old.

Transmissibility has been linked to the nasopharyngeal viral load during onset symptoms. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33296437/] The virus may not be as present in your nasal discharge, or breath. We've also known from the start transmissibility is also definitely not linked to the severity of symptoms.

When you read from articles from the CDC such as [https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-si...] they don't mean all people spread it the same way, just "we have found it spreads commonly in these three ways".

Ironically enough, we traced my positive infection to a non-human animal which sneezed in my face. Within a day I had conjunctivitis (pinkeye). I had non-typical symptoms before severe fatigue set in. I just thought I was going through bad caffeine withdrawal at the time.

Locked inside the house with my spouse and kids for two weeks with symptoms, breathing all over each other, laughing in each others faces, touching the same items, etc.

I only got tested on day 13 when the respiratory and heart symptoms set in. 6 months later I still have some lingering issues. Nobody else in the house or who I associated with ever got it, and they tested every 5 days for a month.

I hope you are recovering well.

Honestly not sure what your point is. Are you saying that for someone who is infected that the probability of not giving it to others around you is not very high?

The gist of what I'm saying is that even if you think that your chances of dying, or even inconvenience, from the virus is extremely low, your ability to control its spread to others is also pretty low. Meaning that you can become a vector to someone who is at high risk. So people going to corona-parties thinking only about the impact on themselves is reckless and selfish.

Initially my point was to correct misinformation. I added my own history as an anecdote.

There's a lot to say about Covid-19. We've learned a lot about it since the start. But objectively, its transmissibility is not what was feared. So the scare tactics about that -today- is wrong.

Covid-19 can be deadly. All people and politicians should have taken it seriously. I don't fault people for being enthusiastic in their political corner, and in the U.S. there were a lot of lines crossed by both sides.

My personal reaction was to be overly cautious. I got it anyway when I started being less strict. And it was nearly as bad as I feared. But I also think governments were wrong to force shutdowns, prevent assembly, etc. It was a misuse, and a spectacle.

High risk people have the option to do what they need to, or to be surrounded by people who advocates for them. (And that right there, I bet, is where you and I will fundamentally disagree). And I respect your disagreement.

Without safe vaccines we'd be having a different conversation. But now is the time to find more answers, spread truth, and be good to one another.

I actually find it a little fascinating that your comment, the first two replies (and mine) all differ tremendously in what we deem important takeaways.

As my doctor puts it "It is definitely a strange bug".

I still don't see the misinformation. I said, that it was "almost impossible not to give it to others". I said the virus was extremely transmissible. It is. With an R0 of approximately 5.7 [[1]]. I didn't say anything about when or how transmission happens.

There was a moment where we thought our daughter had the virus. It became quite clear how futile it was to avoid her infecting everyone else in the house. Fortunately for everyone, it was something else.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002251932...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com