Thread

1. comrade1234 · 1789830140 · focus · HN ↗

   Before Covid I got my German B1 certificate. I was diligently going to German-speaking meetup twice a week.

   One of the meetups had a bunch of googlers in it regularly. One of them was a loud gregarious Italian from the north. He was telling me a story about cleaning fish and chopping their heads off with a machete and how he cut the end of his finger off and had it reattached. He seemed nice but a little inept and lacking caution.

   Covid was starting. In the newspapers it was reported that Zurich had its first case of Covid. They were cautious to not say who it was - no clues at all in the paper. But a friend at Google forwarded me an internal email that said no one at Google had it yet other than someone in the Zurich office who had just been in northern Italy.

   I stopped going to the meetups. I really should start again but not sure what's going to happen next.

   1. timr · 1789830465 · focus · HN ↗

      Well, now that everyone has had it several times, including you, it's probably safe to go to a language meetup.

      1. LoganDark · 1789832450 · focus · HN ↗

         That's not how viruses work. You're not magically immune to flu season just because you've gotten the flu (or flu vaccines) in past years. It's ALWAYS important to keep up to date on your booster vaccines for covid. Even getting one or multiple strains at home won't necessarily help when you travel either.

         1. timr · 1789833432 · focus · HN ↗

            It actually is how the human immune system works, and in particular, there’s a huge amount of evidence that humoral immunity is protective and long lasting for Covid. Worrying about this is roughly the same degree of reasonable as worrying about getting any of the other common coronaviruses that circulate.

            I know you’re not going to accept this, but there is quite literally no good evidence that boosters for Covid do anything for otherwise healthy people who have already been infected.

            Regardless, the point is, if you won’t go to a language meetup because you’re worried about this, you’re likely doing far more damage to yourself from social isolation and anxiety than the virus would ever do to you. It’s time to live your life.

            1. LoganDark · 1789834068 · focus · HN ↗

               I think vaccinations and boosters reduced duration of illness when I got covid for the first time last year. I have no way to know though.

               I think it's weird to advocate skipping shots (not explicitly, but implied) because "everyone's already been infected several times". Best to just get them even if you've been infected and then you don't have to care if they help or not. As opposed to not having gotten them if it comes out that they do help in any way.

               Also that was the only time I've ever gotten sick from covid. I guess that according to you, I must've been asymptomatic several more times.

               1. timr · 1789834334 · focus · HN ↗

                  This is wildly off topic, but again, since you didn’t read it: there is no good evidence that the shots help you if you’ve already been infected. Not mortality, not symptoms, not transmission, nothing.

                  Get the shot if it makes you feel less anxious. It’s probably not helping you, but it’s not hurting you either.

                  1. LoganDark · 1789834891 · focus · HN ↗

                     > since you didn’t read it

                     I read your entire comment. I finished my reply before you made a couple of your latest edits, but I read those too and they don't change my answers. I feel like the assumption of bad faith here makes further debate fruitless.

                     In fact my second paragraph was directly addressing the claim that they don't help, so it's surprising you would so confidently assert I didn't read that part at all.

                     1. timr · 1789837592 · focus · HN ↗

                        There’s nothing in bad faith here. I’m telling you the truth as I know it, based on a wide reading of the literature.

                        Your second paragraph did not “directly address the claim” - you just restated an opinion that you should do something whether it helps or not.

                        That’s not how science works, but sure, if you feel that way, it probably doesn’t matter one way oe the other.

                        My original point was one about social isolation, so I’m really done talking about this now.

                        1. tenuousemphasis · 1789880979 · focus · HN ↗

                           Link your sources then, because I think you're full of shit.
                        2. n4r9 · 1789907091 · focus · HN ↗

                           It's bad faith to assume someone didn't read your message.

                           1. [deleted] · 1789961076 · focus · HN ↗

                              [deleted]

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