It Occurs to Me. I Have Not Had a Cold or Flu for Over a Year

[TomCADem]

True, that is a bit extreme to justify social distancing and mask wearing the absence of COVID, but it is definitely not a coincidence that taking the steps of wearing a mask, social distancing and hand washing, etc., has also had an impact on the spread of other communicable diseases. I am pretty sure as social distancing and mask rules are relaxed that I am due for a traditional cold or flu, but it is a bit weird to go through an entire year without even getting the sniffles.

[liberal N proud]

1. Try and convince the maskless that they are why.

I noticed several weeks ago, no colds, no flu among any one that I know who wear masks.
I mentioned this to the maskless idiots at work, they denied that masks contributed.

[Ocelot II]

2. Same for me.

That's what happens if you avoid other people like the plague - as it were. I might wear a mask in public again when winter comes because it's nice not to get colds all the time.

[TomCADem]

4. Here is a Pre-Pandemic Video of Tokyo Disneyland

And you will see that it is pretty common in other countries to wear masks when going to crowded venues. Yet, in the U.S., you hear Republicans complaining that wearing masks or getting vaccines is worse than the holocaust or slavery.

[unblock]

3. Yup! Fascinating to know when you are sick, it must be something else.

Normally I'm never too sure if it's a cold or allergies.

This last year, I knew!

[agingdem]

12. No flu, stomach virus, cold, sinus infection, allergies over a year..

not giving up my mask...ever!..I intend to wear it all year long...don't miss inhaling second hand smoke or the guy in the check out lane dripping snot on the key pad...

[unblock]

16. I don't blame you. I'm thinking I'll at least have one with me always

And put it on at least in any crowded area

[GoneOffShore]

47. When the cypress trees were shedding pollen, there were some sneezes, even masked.

But no colds or flu this year.

Hand sanitizer at the entrances to most shops, so that's a plus.

[RKP5637]

5. Same here!!! n/t

[Johonny]

6. Just was talking about this with another father yesterday

He's a bit more conservative than me and he was even for wearing masks in the up coming flu season to avoid the winter wave. Not being sick all winter is more way more fun.

[yellowdogintexas]

19. I am all in favor of that! Considering no one has even mentioned

flu outbreaks of any kind for the past 20 months it stands to reason the mask helps a lot.

Still getting flu shots
Getting any booster the doctors say we need for COVID

[JI7]

7. Me too and I tend to get a lot of colds

I work in different places and come in contact with many people. I have continued this work but the mask wearing seems to have helped .

[dawg day]

9. Me too, and I usually get 3 terrible colds every year

Horrible 2-week death-rattle colds, usually becoming bronchitis.

Nothing this year at all. Even the spring allergies are minimal. I think maybe I'm going to mask up in the future, especially in the winter.

[Blue Owl]

10. Ditto

And — surprise surprise — the anti-maskers in my extended family have all been sick (probably with COVID but they’d never admit it). It’s hard to summon much sympathy for them...

[canetoad]

11. Yep - same here

Although I've had flu shots at the start of each winter. Can usually count on one very bad cold a year that becomes every '..itis' under the sun.

[applegrove]

13. I have had lung symptoms a year ago that could have been

covid. I get tested regularly and have always been negative. I've gotten lots of coughs and other symptoms but i put that up to taking the bus to the covid testing center or being in a nursing home. I'm always in a crowd. Anyhow, they have tough screening at the nursing home thank god so i don't go near it if I feel anything.

[Midnight Writer]

14. Me, too, and I usually have a couple of bouts a year.

[sarcasmo]

15. Same and I've checked my temp every day since Covid started.

[Ferrets are Cool]

17. I had the very same thought

It's nice not to get the flu or a cold. Too bad it had to be a killer pandemic that brought it about.

[Hortensis]

18. Me too. I'm not discarding my masks. ALSO not my hand sanitizer.

I've always been a big hand washer, used paper towels to open bathroom doors to leave, etc., but being more "germophobic" while out this last year has really paid off.

It's also helped train me to keep my hands off my face, out of my eyes, etc. I may not forever be alarmed to realize I just rubbed an eye in a supermarket, but for the most part I intend to keep that up. No colds, previously unheard of, has been nice.

[MontanaMama]

20. I haven't had a cold, flu or even any sniffle

since September 2019. I’m fully vaccinated and I’m keeping my masks handy. I hate getting sick.

[BadGimp]

23. Imfukky too... most of the time

[MontanaMama]

24. Crap!

Auto correct on my iPad is a mess... I’m sorry! Corrected...

[3catwoman3]

25. Your typo is making my laugh hysterically.

"...fukky vaccinated."

I am Queen of the Typos, so this is not a criticism - just amused empathy.

[MontanaMama]

28. I fixed it!

I’m so embarrassed...I don’t have my glasses on and my iPad is not helping...

[3catwoman3]

43. I was rather hoping you...

...would leave it. I’m laughing all over again, which feels good.

[BadGimp]

21. I say we all stay home forever...

and kill all the spiders (i fricking hate spiders)

[Probatim]

22. I was sick in mid-December and thought I had COVID or the flu.

I finished the last day of deer season in North Pennsyltucky and stopped in the local Wal-hell to get a few things (I hadn't had any chocolate in what seemed like months).

Mask compliance was at about 40% and the locals were talking about heading to DC to support their dear leader and buying guns since Joe was going to take them away. I kept my mouth shut since several unmasked customers were also carrying sidearms.

Two days later and I'm in bed with a fever and cursing each one of them. Two days later and I was fine. Chalked it up to the flu.

[NotASurfer]

26. Not just imagination

Around 2000 cases of flu reported this year in the US. An average year, 45 million cases. Insane reduction in influenza.

(CDC numbers, reported recently in Popular Science)

Masking, hygiene, staying away from large/indoor gatherings, it works

[Bernardo de La Paz]

27. Your anecdote is reflected in the statistics. Colds and flu down. . . . . nt

[AllyCat]

29. Me neither. The kids went back to school and

Instantly came home with some cold that also got Mr AC. Didn’t get me at all. I like not being sick. I wear a mask all day at work in the hospital. And I wash my hands about 100 times a day. Maybe that’s why I didn’t get sick. I will continue to wear a mask in public for awhile.

[Warpy]

30. I didn't get my usual case of "was that the flu?" this year

I usually get my flu shot but whether or not I space it, I get this thing with a fever and body aches for about 8 hours followed by a junky cough for a week or two, "was that the flu?" Not this year.

Masks are going to be tough to give up for a lot of us, I think.

I did get what I think was Covid a year ago last March, before they knew temperatures could be low grade and loss of smell and taste were hallmark symptoms. I just stayed home and waited for it to go away.

[TomCADem]

40. For me, I usually get at least 2-3 cases of...

...is that a cold or an allergy each year. The thing is that I do go into work, but I observe social distancing as best I can and leave my window open in my office, so I should be more susceptible to allergies. Yet, no cold or sniffles.

So, I think i will continue to be a little more careful and perhaps even continue to use masks on airplanes and in crowded locations. In fact, the last time I got a flu was after taking a plane trip in 2019, so go figure.

[Luciferous]

31. Me too, and I worked at a school for most of the time.

[Mr. Evil]

32. I was just thinking about that an hour or so ago.

I usually suffer from allergies, flu and/or colds every year yet, this past year, nothing. I may just continue to wear a mask and I don't give a shit what anyone says while I'm out and about!

[Snackshack]

33. There's no reason...

To stop wearing a mask and staying conscious about distancing.

[lastlib]

34. I've read that flu cases are down HUGELY this past season relative to previous.

I haven't had a cold in two years, initially due to my isolation for injury, later for masking/isolation for COVID.
The only sniffles I have had were a very mild case for a few days after my first vaccine shot.

[JoeOtterbein]

35. Your headline reminds me of the insurance commercial about "becoming your parents".

In any other times.

But now I think we need a bit of learning about "airborne illness" like small pox, measles, the normal flu, and now COVID.

All the above can be contracted by sharing air. So don't do it with the ill, or strangers.

Thanks of it as "air hygiene".

It really is that simple.

[susanr516]

36. I live in a city of 350,000

Our worst week of 19-20 flu season had 749 confirmed cases in one week. In the 20-21 season, our worst week was 26 cases. Looks like masking, hand-sanitizing, and social distancing drastically reduces the spread of flu.

[IronLionZion]

37. Masks are a good idea in crowded indoor spaces like public transit

Asian countries have had people masking if they had a cold or wanted to prevent catching a cold long before this pandemic.

I've definitely caught colds from people on the bus, or in the office, or my household.

[LeftInTX]

38. I started going back to the gym

There was this real big sweaty guy in there the other day.

My throat has felt irritated since.....


I'm fully vaccinated....I think my mask was on when I was in his vicinity and I keep the mask on when I'm near people, but on the treadmill, I get too hot and I also get too hot on some of the equipment...

Only about 50% of the people in the gym wear masks.

[IronLionZion]

49. 100% for my gym

and they are strict about social distancing, reserving times, and checking temperature. That's why I started going again in January, plus the roaming insurrectionists and national guard blockades in my city made it difficult to walk outdoors.

I've definitely gotten colds from gyms in the past.

[Jon King]

39. Wrong approach unless compromised, the immune system must be built up.

Masks after Covid? No freakin way! See people smile and laugh. Enjoy reading people's facial expressions.

This mentally of wearing a mask not to get cold or flu escapes me. Its part of life. It builds our immune systems. Unless someone is immunocompromised, geez, whats the point?

I can not wait to get back to laughing with people, seeing their faces, watching the kids play and laugh and scream. Seeing people smile is great for the soul.

[TomCADem]

41. I Dunno. Last Flu I Had Was After An Airline Flight Pre-Pandemic

I don't really want to see anyone's soul during a flight and it really sucked because I was then sick toward the tail end of my visit.

For the most part, post-pandemic, people should be fine without masks because most places in the U.S. are pretty wide open.

Washing hands correctly will probably be another habit I will keep. I just don't understand the logic of trying to get sick to exercise one's immune system.

Finally, post-COVID, it would be great if there is no stigma to wearing masks, particularly if people are sick. Too often at work, someone decides to be a hero, and goes into work sick only to wipe out a couple of folks. Hopefully, folks will have more leeway to work at home when sick or to at least wear a mask if they have a bit of could, rather than giving everyone else immunity system a workout.

[LeftInTX]

51. Your immune system is developed by exposure to pathogens. It's a catch 22.

Immune systems are not static, but ever changing.

Vaccines work because they give you a "small case" of whatever...

Think of what happened to Native Americans when Europeans arrived. I don't believe it was just smallpox, but a bunch of stuff that Europeans carried.

What would happen to someone's immune system if they avoided society for 10 years?

I hope there are studies regarding masks for colds and flu after all of this.

Prior to Covid, masks have been proven to decrease the spread of pathogens within medical facilities, but this type of infection prevention is very different than common colds and flu in the general population.


It will be interesting to have some guidance.

I can see moderate use of masks.

I hate colds and flu and would love to never have either again.

But I wonder if prolonged isolation from all colds etc will set our immune systems back to our toddler years?


When I lived in Japan, (1960-63) they would wear masks, but there was no such thing as social distancing, not everyone wore masks either.

Can't really find research about long term affects. Of course anyone who is immune compromised should wear masks to prevent colds and flu.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/general/15/2/15_126/_pdf/-char/en

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

45. Building our immune system.

That is really the issue, which most people don't get.

Our immune system is designed to be challenged by lots and lots of diseases (both viral and bacterial) in the first decade or so of life. If we survive (and historically a lot of us didn't) we are then good to go for the next forty or so years.

Speaking from my personal experience, I got a LOT of illnesses in my first five or six years of life. Part was because in early childhood we lived in a low income housing development with lots of little kids. Plus I was the third of six children, so again, lots of opportunities for illnesses.

In those early years I got various things, including Asian flu in 1957. I got flu two or three more times thereafter, but not at all since 1973 or so. Here's the interesting thing about influenza. There are three types, well four, but the fourth only infects cows so it doesn't matter here. The are unimaginatively called A, B, and C. A is the most virulent. It's the one that causes serious epidemics. It was the villain in the 1918 epidemic. B is less serious, but can cause problems. C is essentially benign. Getting any one of those tends to make a person immune to almost all others of that type indefinitely. The reason older people, 50 plus, didn't get sick in the 1918 epidemic was that they'd been through an earlier pandemic about 50 years earlier, and had mostly survived. So 1918 had not terror for them. Because I got the Asian flu, a type A, all those years ago, I honestly feel immune to serious influenza.

More to the point, this past year of cocooning and wearing masks is going to have an unintended consequence. Yes, social distancing and masks were a very good thing during this pandemic, but it also means that people are not being exposed to things they should be exposed to. I get it that people here are happy they haven't had a single cold this past year, but they do not understand the epidemiology of colds. There are several hundred cold viruses out there. For the most part, once you get one specific cold virus, then recover, that particular cold virus can't infect you again. The problem is, there are several hundred cold viruses. Which is why little kids tend to get lots and lots of colds. Over time, your immunity to the many cold viruses increases, and by the time you are sixty or so, you are immune to many cold viruses, and get far fewer colds. I'm 72, and for well over a decade I've gotten a cold once every several years. Honestly, at this point I cannot recall the last time I had a cold. Years ago, that's for certain. Which I honestly think is a tribute to getting colds and recovering from them.

Just as getting flu and recovering is a good thing.

[HockeyMom]

48. Your age and same experience

I grew up in NYC and was a very sickly child. Had all those childhood diseases by the age of 2. Mom took me everywhere on subways and buses. I also had Scarlet Fever at 6, despite being given antibiotics. Interestingly, after I had that I never caught strep ever again.

Could not count the number of times I had the flu when young, including both the '57 and '68 Flu Pandemics. Last time I had the flu must be around 30 years ago? Never had a flu shot. Colds maybe ever 5 years based on expiration dates of OTC meds. I worked in public schools around a LOT of sick kids. You do not have to go back to 1918 just 2009 pandemic. As with the turn of the century, it was the kids and young adults getting the flu. Why? Same thing. People 50+ lived through the 1957 Flu Pandemic which was the same strain even if mutated. Saw that at the Elementary School where I worked. We older staff were joking is this a school or a Senior Center?

My same age husband tested Positive for Covid back in December. No symptoms other than being very tired for 24 hours. His "medical treatment" was to drink more coffee. I tested Negative living with someone with the virus. We did not mask around each other, social distance, or sleep in separate bedroom. How could this possibly be if COVID is so contagious?

I have known other people who had the virus as well, although asymptomatic, did not catch it from their household members as well.

People today do not trust their own immune symptoms. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[LeftInTX]

50. My friend's live in boyfriend had Covid and she didn't get it

Unlike most married couples, this couple was luvy-duvy...if you know what I mean

When he caught Covid, I asked her if they had been distancing in the same household and she said didn't wanna give me TMI (Too Much Information), but they had been having a robust sex life up until he developed Covid. She fully expected to get Covid, but she didn't.

I think sometimes it is just luck that we don't catch something..

OTOH, there is a such a thing as strong immune system.

I don't have a strong one, but I don't have a weak one either.

My grandmother, who was born in 1911, had scarlet fever as a kid. She claimed that because she had scarlet fever as a child, she was "never sick a day in her life"...She survived a burst a appendix as an adult pre-antibiotic years...

In 2000, she was living in assisted living and hated it. One night, she fell and broke her hip. She was in the bathroom when she fell and no one came to her aid for several hours because the call button was not within reach. It was the last straw for her. It was a sign that her "time was up".

It was also a bad, complex fracture which required surgery. However, they really could not repair her hip. She was not a candidate for hip replacement.

She told me that she wanted to die because, "I can't keep house anymore".....

So she devised a scheme: She refused to participate in any activity that would prolong her life. Her goal was to stay in bed as much as possible with the hopes of developing pneumonia and dying.

Her scheme did not work...

She never got sick. It took her three long years to die.

She never developed pneumonia.

She eventually developed necrosis within her hip and it spread to the rest of her organs.

[JCMach1]

42. Didn't get a cold until my 10 yo went back to F2F school

Rhino viruses will get you anyway by touching and adjusting your mask.

My main point I wanted to make was when you do catch one, it may give you an a$$ kicking like it did me as your immune system has been on vacay.

[meadowlander]

44. The flu essentially went extinct in New Zealand following the six week lockdown.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018767843/near-extinction-of-influenza-in-nz-as-numbers-drop-due-to-lockdown

Just think how many diseases we could eradicate if we all just stayed the hell away from each other for the same six weeks.

[Straw Man]

46. Neither have I.

Then again, I haven't really gone anywhere in over a year ...

Masks and handwashing are important, of course, but I believe that the most important factor in my case was the lack of human contact. I'm a teacher, and the switch from classroom to Zoom classes caused a drop in the number of face-to-face human interactions in my typical work week from approximately 100 to exactly zero.

[LeftInTX]

52. I think so too