Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Covid-19 and purity spirals

684 replies

DreadPirateLuna · 09/04/2020 13:54

Covid-19 is a very serious illness which threatens our most vulnerable and risks overwhelming the NHS. We should all do what we can to flatten the curve and save lives. People whose behaviour risks lives (e.g. urban residents traveling out to holiday homes in rural communities) should face criticism and sanctions.

However, I can't help feeling that some of the outrage at some behaviours is less about reducing the spread and more about getting caught in a "purity spiral".

Take all the outrage about people in parks. Fresh air and sunshine is good for physical and mental health, it improves the immune system which is particularly important during an epidemic! Many urban residents have no other source of open space except the local park. The ability to get outside can be lifesaving for victims of DV. Risks of contracting disease are very low if you keep your distance from others outside your household.

Yet I've seen photos of walkers and family groups in parks, keeping far away from others, but accused of selfishness and killing the elderly and disrespecting the NHS. Parks in London have been closed, meaning more congestion of other areas and residents confined to homes, which is damaging for reasons outlined above.

And it's usually (though not exclusively) women and esp mothers who get blamed. Those selfish Karens and their broods.

A more sensible solution would be to allow restricted access to the parks. Maybe allow only locals in nearby flats without gardens. But it seems we're not doing sensible these days.

OP posts:
nolongersurprised · 13/04/2020 11:59

Going by the German study though only 15% of the population in a hard hit town have had it. Bearing in mind 60 - 70% is needed for herd immunity I don't think infection rate is high amongst the population.

If the German study just looked for IgG antibodies though, there’s likely an underestimate. The presumption seems to be it’ll take two weeks to build an IgG response (based on SARS tests) whereas IgM and IgA will be present earlier. If IgM and IgG are tested for the numbers will be higher..

StatisticallyChallenged · 13/04/2020 12:03

The German study does suggest relatively low immunity, although it is very hard to compare across populations, from small towns to big cities, and so on.

Even 15% already having had it would be good though IMO - it would mean the death rate is much lower than thought, and it would also reduce (not remove, but reduce) the ability of the disease to spread in future waves. I'd also expect that immunity to be concentrated, so NHS staff and other keyworkers are more likely to have had contact with it and may have much higher levels of immunity which is good from a maintaining healthcare perspective.

StatisticallyChallenged · 13/04/2020 12:04

That's what I was saying re the studies NoLongerSurprised - I've not seen that info re the German study.

There might also be a crossover period where both tests could be negative depending on sensitivity

nolongersurprised · 13/04/2020 12:15

There might also be a crossover period where both tests could be negative depending on sensitivity

There’s quite a good study talking about the sensitivity/specificity and time to become positive for the various antibody tests in SARS (with implications for COVID-19) and my brief impression was that the testing would miss a chunk of true positives. I’ll look for it, but not now. It’s night time here

NotTerfNorCis · 16/04/2020 17:00

The Guardian once again dispensing with gender essence nonsense to talk about biological sex.

Men are much more likely to die from coronavirus - but why?

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/men-are-much-more-likely-to-die-from-coronavirus-but-why

StatisticallyChallenged · 16/04/2020 17:12

It's funny how they know what a man/woman actually is in this context isn't it?

NotTerfNorCis · 16/04/2020 17:16

many genes that regulate the immune system are encoded on the X chromosome (of which men have one, and women have two)

A few weeks ago that would have sent the TRAs into spasms. The Guardian would never have got away with it.

MilesJuppIsMyBitch · 16/04/2020 17:44

And it only took a global pandemic to sort it out.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page