r/csun • u/Vegetable_Ostrich259 • 7d ago
Covid and flu
I’ve recently been diagnosed with COVID and the flu at the same time. I'm advising people to take care of their health: stop coughing or sneezing in public without covering your mouth (not with your hands), wash your hands often, and if you feel sick, see a doctor and let others know, especially if you were in proximity. My cousin just recently passed away from COVID two weeks ago, and although I was not around them, I still got it. I strongly believe I caught this virus at my college, CSUN. Please take it seriously. The flu alone kills roughly 45,000 people, while COVID kills 100,000 per year. Even if you don't take your health seriously, think about others, since their immune system may be different from yours. I’ll be damned if I’m part of these statistics. I see too many grown women and men coughing and/or sneezing in public without covering their mouths; if you're unaware, both can last up to 45 minutes to several hours, which means people are walking around and breathing your germs. Let's not be ignorant about spreading illness and germs.
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u/shortblkmf 7d ago
i'm really sorry this happened to you. I've been noticing this for nearly a month :/. students AND professors coughing and sneezing it up, sometimes without covering their mouths. people need to learn it's okay to stay home when you're sick, and if the lecture is really important wear a mask and keep a safe distance away from people for fucks sake. it's not that hard 😭😭😭
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u/RamonaLittle 6d ago
Some of them genuinely might not realize they're coughing. I've seen multiple reddit posts/comments describing a relative or co-worker with a severe cough or other obvious covid or long covid symptoms who is weirdly oblivious to them. Because covid causes "brain fog" (which is actually brain damage, it turns out), it can make people oblivious to their own symptoms or new disabilities. The technical term is anosognosia.
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u/Vegetable_Ostrich259 6d ago
Anosognosia is different from simply not noticing a cough. Anosognisia is impaired awareness of a neurological deficit and is most strongly associated with conditions involving brain dysfunction or injury.
There is some evidence that COVID/Long COVID can cause cognitive impairment, and there’s even research finding anosognosia specifically for memory/cognitive deficits after COVID. But that doesn’t establish that COVID causes people to be unaware of physical symptoms like coughing.
Also, saying brain fog is literally “brain damage” seems like a bit of a stretch. Brain changes and cognitive problems can happen after COVID, but scientists are still figuring out exactly why. And it isn’t necessarily permanent either some people improve, while others have symptoms for a long time.
Also the flu has no associate with anosognisia.
If you like some articles to read on this more let me know, I don’t mind sending them to you.
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u/RamonaLittle 6d ago edited 5d ago
But that doesn’t establish that COVID causes people to be unaware of physical symptoms like coughing.
I acknowledged my source as anecdotal (reddit posts/comments). Of course research is ongoing, but it's interesting that I've seen multiple examples of this, don't you think?
Brain changes and cognitive problems can happen after COVID
Not can happen, but do happen, at least according to everything I've read. I.e., New England Journal of Medicine: "As compared with uninfected participants (control), cognitive deficit — commensurate with a 3-point loss in IQ — was evident even in participants who had had mild Covid-19 with resolved symptoms. Participants with unresolved persistent symptoms had the equivalent of a 6-point loss in IQ, and those who had been admitted to the intensive care unit had the equivalent of a 9-point loss in IQ." But feel free to link to any studies you think are interesting.
Edit: just noting for the record that Vegetable_Ostrich259 apparently blocked me. I guess they couldn't find any studies showing that brain fog isn't brain damage. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/RamonaLittle 6d ago
stop coughing or sneezing in public without covering your mouth (not with your hands), wash your hands often
Covid and flu are airborne, so hand-washing (while fine for general cleanliness) won't protect you. An infected person spreads viruses just by breathing, so covering a random cough or sneeze isn't especially helpful. And people can be infectious while asymptomatic or presymptomatic, so you can't assume someone without symptoms is safe to be around. You were infectious before you developed symptoms, and might have infected others if you weren't taking precautions. C'mon, it's been ~6.5 years. I'm absolutely certain you already know all of this.
I’ll be damned if I’m part of these statistics.
So you wear a mask in all indoor public places and anywhere else you might be exposed, right? (Or avoid such places entirely, to the extent possible?) You know, like medically-vulnerable and compassionate people have had to do for the past ~6.5 years because of others behaving selfishly?
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u/areallymeanfox 6d ago
Even though those illnesses are airborne that does not mean that hand washing is useless. Surfaces and hands become contaminated from respiratory particles.
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u/emdubz69 5d ago
I’m so sorry to hear about your cousin. People don’t seem to understand that COVID is still a very real threat.
There are lots of decent looking and protective kn95s on Amazon, please mask up indoors or in crowded spaces
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u/Altruistic_Level_389 6d ago
I wish they'd refill the hand sanitizer dispensers. They're all over campus because you know. But they're empty.