Will we see an eradication or serious reduction in other illnesses as a result of social distancing and hand washing and other measures during COVID? | AskScience Blog

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Sunday, May 17, 2020

Will we see an eradication or serious reduction in other illnesses as a result of social distancing and hand washing and other measures during COVID?

Will we see an eradication or serious reduction in other illnesses as a result of social distancing and hand washing and other measures during COVID?


Will we see an eradication or serious reduction in other illnesses as a result of social distancing and hand washing and other measures during COVID?

Posted: 16 May 2020 04:07 PM PDT

I'm thinking the flu, the common cold, or other general or obscure illnesses.

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Why do our hands get sweaty when anticipating strenuous activity, and are often the first things to sweat? What kind of survival situation is benefited by slippery but slightly cooler hands?

Posted: 16 May 2020 06:43 AM PDT

Is this just poor adaptation? In many sports - e.g. weightlifting, climbing - and work activities people need to chalk up their hands or wear tape or gloves for grip, purely to counter this crappy response from their body. I would imagine in a fight or flight situation, evolving humans needed grip much more than they needed a marginal amount of heat dissipation from their hands.

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If we can train dogs from sniffing certain types of cancer, is it possible that we can train them in sniffing out viruses too such as Covid-19?

Posted: 17 May 2020 07:10 AM PDT

I know this is a stupid question and I know cancers and viruses are different. I just want to know what prevents us from training them to sniff out viruses since that could be an alternative for testing. Im just curious.

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Why are scientists unsure about whether COVID-19 Antibodies cause long-term immunity?

Posted: 17 May 2020 07:27 AM PDT

Short question: I keep hearing the same point repeated over and over again. "Scientists don't know if antibodies protect you from reinfection." What exactly do scientists not know? Are they unsure of the B-Cell memory timeline? Do they doubt the antibodies ability to neutralize the virus? Or are they saying this out of an abundance of caution?

Longer question: I was a Molecular Biology Major in undergrad. I know some of the big concepts of immunology, but I don't know enough to talk with any authority. Based on what I know, I am going to lay out my theory about why scientists avoid answering this question. Can you please tell me where my theory is incorrect?

Essentially, my understanding is that IgM antibodies will give people long-term immunity. COVID does not mutate quickly because it has a RNA proofreading system (Source posted below). Therefore, We shouldn't worry about next year's COVID having different serotypes that our body won't recognize.

The other questions is about B-Cell memory. How long will your body continue to produce antibodies? I know that B-cells for Lyme disease have a particularly short memory (less than 6 months). However, everything I've read online indicates that similar Corona viruses leave relatively long B-Cell memories. This article (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851497/) says that people infected with SARS had around 3 years of elevated IgG. But of course, after 3 years they should still have IgM antibodies, right? If reinfected, shouldn't they be able to replenish their IgG antibodies much faster than the original infection? In addition, even if COVID Antibodies last 3 years, that would give us plenty of time to develop a vaccine and provide people with booster shots. Am I missing something about B-Cell memory?

I've also read articles that describe healthy people who get infected with COVID and die of a cytokine attacks (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/how-does-coronavirus-kill-clinicians-trace-ferocious-rampage-through-body-brain-toes). In essence, a cytokine attack is when your immune system is kicked into overdrive. It starts killing off cells indiscriminately, including your own cells. This is what killed so many people during Spanish flu. Young people were at higher risk because they had a stronger immune system. Now, I don't know enough about cytokine storms to answer this question properly, but are scientists worried that the presence of antibodies could cause these attacks? If not, it seems that antibodies should keep one safe from the most serious effects of COVID.

My (non-expert) opinion is that scientists won't say that some people are immune out of an abundance of caution. I also think its political. If people know that getting infected leads to immunity, young people will purposely catch the virus. In addition, people with antibodies would be able to leave lockdown, creating more civil unrest. A nytimes opinion article (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/opinion/coronavirus-antibody-certificate-testing.html) talked about this issue. If people who are immune can return to work, the remaining people without antibodies will be at an economic disadvantage. Would employers ask for your COVID status? Could you lose a job based on whether you can safely return to work? By being ambiguous about whether antibodies keep someone safe, we are not forced to confront these more difficult political questions.

I'm interested in hearing your optinion! Remember, I'm not an expert, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I am looking forward to hearing some expert opinions.

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21593585 (COVID RNA PROOFREADING)
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851497/ (SARS antibody memory duration)
  3. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/how-does-coronavirus-kill-clinicians-trace-ferocious-rampage-through-body-brain-toes (COVID Cytokine storms)
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/opinion/coronavirus-antibody-certificate-testing.html
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The flu virus mutates constantly. How are the vaccines made if the virus is constantly changing?

Posted: 16 May 2020 03:11 PM PDT

What were natural disasters like back in the age of dinosaurs?

Posted: 17 May 2020 06:22 AM PDT

With COVID-19 being so contagious and all of us isolating from each other, is COVID the most likely virus any of us will catch at this moment or are there still flu viruses out there that we’re just as likely to catch right now?

Posted: 16 May 2020 09:24 PM PDT

Are there statics to show this? As a random example, if you're showing general "flu-like" symptoms of having a virus, there's a 50% chance of it being COVID, 30% chance of it being the flu, etc....

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When learning a new complex skill, like a second language or a music instrument, does the brain have to 'delete' things to make space for it?

Posted: 16 May 2020 05:45 PM PDT

A piano player needs a lot more finger control than an average person, so I suppose the place where this info is kept takes more space. Other less used functions, like moving your toes, that are stored near it sacrificed to make space? There's evidence that in blind people, the visual cortex is repurposed for language processing, but what happens if they gain vision through surgery?

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what causes high-pressure weather systems in the atmosphere that eventually lead to heat waves?

Posted: 17 May 2020 02:16 AM PDT

Are fantastic dreams (that the person somewhat remembers) an indicator of creativity?

Posted: 17 May 2020 02:05 AM PDT

How can an object change its axis of rotation due to energy dissipation without violating conservation of angular momentum?

Posted: 16 May 2020 05:03 PM PDT

In this video by Veritasium (11:24), he claims that a liquid-filled cylinder spinning around an axis with the smallest moment of inertia will dissipate its rotational kinetic energy and eventually change its rotation towards spinning around the axis with the largest moment of inertia, which corresponds to the lowest energy state. However, as I understand, angular momentum is a vector and thus has a direction. If the object is initially spinning around a given axis, its angular momentum points in the direction of this axis (I think). How is it possible then that conservation of angular momentum holds if the axis of rotation has changed? There seems to be some flaw with my reasoning and I'd like to figure out what it is.

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Are oils containing mainly long chain fatty acids thicker in consistency than short chain fatty acids?

Posted: 17 May 2020 01:26 AM PDT

Hi, I can't find a clear answer to this. Maybe it's very obvious, but I need someone to confirm this; if a carrier or essential oil has long chain fatty acids mainly, is it thicker than a oil with mainly short chain fatty acids? Or this the long/medium/short chains have not effect on the thickness/consistency? Thanks!

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Can acetone or acetone-methanol be used as mobile phase for column chromatography?

Posted: 17 May 2020 01:20 AM PDT

Are basic expressions of human emotion (happy, sad, scared, etc...) universal, or do they differ from culture to culture?

Posted: 16 May 2020 09:27 PM PDT

Is it possible for prion diseases, specifically vCJD & CJD, to be transmitted by a used injections(needles/syringes) from a current sufferer or a silent carrier just like they are in blood transfusions?

Posted: 16 May 2020 04:07 PM PDT

And if the answer is yes, what are the odds of someone becoming infected by being injected with a used needle from someone with vCJD & CJD?

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are all mobile phases in chromatography solvent? And are all solvents considered mobile phase?

Posted: 17 May 2020 12:13 AM PDT

Can we detect a Doppler shift (or "wobble") on the Sun from Jupiter's gravity?

Posted: 16 May 2020 11:59 PM PDT

Can Earth-based Doppler spectroscopy detect the effects of Jupiter's gravitational interaction with the Sun, similar to how it is used to search for extrasolar planets? I assumed that it could, but then it occurred to me that Jupiter's orbital period of ~12 years means that we would only have been able to observe two or three Jovian orbits since usable Doppler spectroscopy emerged in the mid-90s.

What about gravitational perturbations caused by Saturn and the ice giants? Their longer orbital periods would certainly preclude their effects on the Sun from being directly observable thus far, right? Do we have sensitive enough equipment now to detect even the terrestrial planets' gravitational wobble effects on the Sun, given their shorter orbital periods (and despite their much smaller masses)?

Or is the Sun just too bright from our relatively close proximity to it for us to observe a red/blue shift from the wobble that orbiting bodies cause?

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Is yeast necessary for the production of alcohol during decomposition? Or is alcohol just a consistent byproduct of decomposition?

Posted: 16 May 2020 11:56 PM PDT

Why did Saturn V have so many stages?

Posted: 16 May 2020 11:15 PM PDT

The Saturn V had three full stages, inter-stages, and then the Apollo spacecraft or other craft or similar on top. Why was it so complex? Or is it not actually as complex as I think?

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When did freshwater life evolve?

Posted: 16 May 2020 10:11 PM PDT

Did freshwater life evolve shortly after marine life or did it evolve after life has transitioned to land?

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How does hearing work in animals with good hearing?

Posted: 16 May 2020 07:46 AM PDT

I don't think being able to see well can really be a hindrance, and a super sensitive nose probably isn't a big deal either, but what about hearing? If an animal can hear really far/low volumes, does that mean everything at "normal" volume is deafening? Or is it not as simple as a simple multiplier being cranked up?

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[Physics] are there any shapes of which they're drag coefficient is independant of dimensions or reynolds number?

Posted: 16 May 2020 05:24 PM PDT

Also if a shape is not independant of its dimensions, if it's possible to find the drag coefficient if I do not know the drag force but I do have the drag coefficient of the same shape but with different dimensions?

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