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The first hypothesis suggests people’s immune systems are weaker now, due to a lack of exposure to viruses while observing COVID-19 public health measures over the last two-and-a-half years.
But this notion that governments and public health officials have been “coddling” the public’s immune systems by wearing masks and staying home and that this has eroded people’s immunity to other viruses like influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is simply not true, says Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor in the faculty of information at the University of Toronto.
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The second interpretation of the term “immunity debt” purports that more babies and children than ever are getting seriously ill with respiratory viruses because there was delayed exposure to these illnesses over the last two-and-a-half years — again due to lockdowns and masks...
While part of this may be true, it doesn’t explain why so many children are not only getting sick, but are also becoming seriously ill to the point of needing hospitalization, Jeimy said.
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