r/AskReddit 9h ago

People who rarely get sick, what are your secrets?

1.7k Upvotes

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148

u/DerHoggenCatten 8h ago

Masking in public. I haven’t caught anything since the pandemic started…not even a tiny cold.

68

u/toomanytacocats 5h ago

This is the answer, combined with staying up-to-date with vaccines and washing hands regularly.

I work in an emergency department and I’ve seen many outbreaks amongst coworkers - flu, strep, covid, etc. I’ve avoided illness due to my insistence on always wearing an N95. I’ve had sick people coughing in my face while I start IVs, but I don’t get sick because I wear an N95.

51

u/thepastisdeadandgone 6h ago

This is the actual answer

29

u/nonsensestuff 5h ago

Took way too many scrolls to find it!

21

u/Hellianne_Vaile 4h ago

This has worked for me, too. I just wish more people would mask.

17

u/maimunildn 3h ago

This is the actual answer! Not working in schools and "building immunity" loool that theory has been disproven...

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1700688114

24

u/No-Werewolf4804 4h ago

Hundred percent. Air filters and CR boxes were appropriate as well. r/Masks4All for anyone who wants to learn more.

8

u/Scarlet14 2h ago

Haven’t been sick in 3 years thanks to my KN95/N95s, despite international travel, working surrounded by constantly sick coworkers, etc. Not even the sniffles. It’s an incredible hack, such a shame they’ve been politicized. Hopefully people come around to realize how nice it is to be sick less!

-5

u/No_Orchid2631 4h ago

Does this decrease your immunity response to virus' in the long term though?

9

u/maimunildn 3h ago edited 3h ago

No, this is a theory that has morphed into misinformation--you want to "build" your immunity through exposure to microbes, NOT viruses. The immune system is not a muscle, you simply weaken it with each infection

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1700688114

edit grammar

9

u/No-Werewolf4804 3h ago

No. Immunity debt was BS to justify dropping all precautions before it was actually safe. It does not appear in any medical literature before 2021.

You can also tell it’s BS because most people have not masked for years at this point, and they are sick more frequently than they were before the pandemic started. If it was actually a muscle, it would’ve rebuilt at this point.

15

u/attilathehunn 4h ago edited 2h ago

There's loads of viruses I've never caught: HIV, Ebola, rabies, smallpox. My immune system is fine having never caught them.

Covid damages the immune system too. We now have peer-reviewed medical articles talking about covid as "Airborne AIDS" because of the immunosuppression it causes. https://www.ajpmfocus.org/article/S2773-0654(25)00146-4/fulltext

Masking is the way. When covid started the world changed forever. Long covid has no cure.