A computer simulation of a disease outbreak shows that airports like
those in New York City and Los Angeles would help spread germs. Credit:
Christos Nicolaides/MIT
4 comments:
Nicholas
said...
Wow, that really made me think. Most of the time I thought you would only get sick on a plane because of air sickness, but apparently, also just because of sickness. The top three most diseased airport cities were LA, New York, and Honolulu. LA, is no surprise, and honestly, kind of scary, though I've never gotten sick. New York no surprise there, but then there's Honolulu. When I saw that it surprised me, but when I read on, it made sense. Just think, it is about six hours from Honolulu to LA. Believe it or not, Honolulu is further away from LA than New York. What I'm saying is that if I were a disease, I would want to reproduce, than quickly get out and reproduce more in another body, and in Honolulu, you can do that. It also said there were many foreign airport travels from Honolulu. Just think though; if it takes six hours to get to one of the closest airports to Honolulu, imagine a flight from Honolulu to Houston. Disease Heaven. To sum it up, I agree with what the guys from MIT said. More time, more disease. People don't matter as much as time. What an interesting article!
Kind of just adding more info and thought. It says that many people in Washington have whooping cough, severe coughing. I think that there are probably different sicknesses in different states. I just specified Washington with coughing, but maybe New Mexico has the pox. The different diseases would probably be based off locals, and how many people come from other states and countries. But size does matter a lot. Honolulu is just a rare exception. Alaska is probably pretty high for its population too. The US might go to the point where you have to have vaccinations to ride plains. Don't count that idea out.
I agree with Nicholas's first comment, but not his second. I think that size might matter but the amount of time spent is more important. Also I think that maybe places that are far out, but slightly popular are probably the best places for diseases to grow. Honolulu fits this description exactly. True, LA and New York are very big, so they would be first and second, respectively. I'm not so completely sure, though. Computers can never truly simulate real life. New York could spread no germs at all because everybody sanitizes their hands, but New Mexico might get a lot because nobody sanitizes at all. I all depends.
I thought that this article was a bit confusing, but overall it was very interesting to find out about how these airports can spread severe illnesses so easily. What was confusing to me was: how they were saying that the two airports that were spreading the most germs were the ones in Los Angeles, and the ones in New York. This was confusing because in the U.S., I recall that we don't have very popular severe illnesses. So, how could these airports be spreading the most germs? Maybe it is because so many people come to these airports from different parts of the world, that the airport is more likely to receive many different kind of germs. I wish we were able to know what illnesses were spreading so maybe we could do something to go against them, especially if they were severe illnesses. I agree with Nicholas when he said that germ spreading might come to the point where the U.S. might need to have vaccinations for some diseases, and that we shouldn't count that point out. What I find to be the one of the most interesting things about this article, was the fact that reading it really makes you think: are these germs only spreading in these airports, or in other airports and other busy places? Since we know about this, are Americans going to try to stop germs from spreading as much in airports? But the thing that scares me the most is: if there are so many germs in these airports, where people from continents all around the world are gathering, where are some other major germ spreading areas? I go to Disneyland a lot and I try to be very careful about touching my nose, mouth, etc. after going on a ride, but what about from just being in an atmosphere where strangers are constantly breathing on you and talking and spitting on you…can you get sick more easily in that area? And also in hotel rooms...I don't mean to be a "germaphobic" or anything but when people go to the bathroom and don't wash there hands, and touch the T.V. remote, and touch the telephone, and we touch those things...we are basically calling the germs to spread on us. It would definitely comfort me to know that we have this germ spreading issue under control, but what if we don’t? What if we need to sleep on a plane ride, and there is a drool stain on the seat where you are putting the side of your mouth? Overall, I think that this article informed me on things about germs I did not know. Reading this makes me want to learn more about germ spreading and how it works, but maybe I’ll be in my “germaphobic” state of mind and won’t want to know…
4 comments:
Wow, that really made me think. Most of the time I thought you would only get sick on a plane because of air sickness, but apparently, also just because of sickness. The top three most diseased airport cities were LA, New York, and Honolulu. LA, is no surprise, and honestly, kind of scary, though I've never gotten sick. New York no surprise there, but then there's Honolulu. When I saw that it surprised me, but when I read on, it made sense. Just think, it is about six hours from Honolulu to LA. Believe it or not, Honolulu is further away from LA than New York. What I'm saying is that if I were a disease, I would want to reproduce, than quickly get out and reproduce more in another body, and in Honolulu, you can do that. It also said there were many foreign airport travels from Honolulu. Just think though; if it takes six hours to get to one of the closest airports to Honolulu, imagine a flight from Honolulu to Houston. Disease Heaven. To sum it up, I agree with what the guys from MIT said. More time, more disease. People don't matter as much as time. What an interesting article!
Kind of just adding more info and thought. It says that many people in Washington have whooping cough, severe coughing. I think that there are probably different sicknesses in different states. I just specified Washington with coughing, but maybe New Mexico has the pox. The different diseases would probably be based off locals, and how many people come from other states and countries. But size does matter a lot. Honolulu is just a rare exception. Alaska is probably pretty high for its population too. The US might go to the point where you have to have vaccinations to ride plains. Don't count that idea out.
I agree with Nicholas's first comment, but not his second. I think that size might matter but the amount of time spent is more important. Also I think that maybe places that are far out, but slightly popular are probably the best places for diseases to grow. Honolulu fits this description exactly. True, LA and New York are very big, so they would be first and second, respectively. I'm not so completely sure, though. Computers can never truly simulate real life. New York could spread no germs at all because everybody sanitizes their hands, but New Mexico might get a lot because nobody sanitizes at all. I all depends.
I thought that this article was a bit confusing, but overall it was very interesting to find out about how these airports can spread severe illnesses so easily.
What was confusing to me was: how they were saying that the two airports that were spreading the most germs were the ones in Los Angeles, and the ones in New York. This was confusing because in the U.S., I recall that we don't have very popular severe illnesses. So, how could these airports be spreading the most germs? Maybe it is because so many people come to these airports from different parts of the world, that the airport is more likely to receive many different kind of germs.
I wish we were able to know what illnesses were spreading so maybe we could do something to go against them, especially if they were severe illnesses. I agree with Nicholas when he said that germ spreading might come to the point where the U.S. might need to have vaccinations for some diseases, and that we shouldn't count that point out.
What I find to be the one of the most interesting things about this article, was the fact that reading it really makes you think: are these germs only spreading in these airports, or in other airports and other busy places? Since we know about this, are Americans going to try to stop germs from spreading as much in airports?
But the thing that scares me the most is: if there are so many germs in these airports, where people from continents all around the world are gathering, where are some other major germ spreading areas? I go to Disneyland a lot and I try to be very careful about touching my nose, mouth, etc. after going on a ride, but what about from just being in an atmosphere where strangers are constantly breathing on you and talking and spitting on you…can you get sick more easily in that area? And also in hotel rooms...I don't mean to be a "germaphobic" or anything but when people go to the bathroom and don't wash there hands, and touch the T.V. remote, and touch the telephone, and we touch those things...we are basically calling the germs to spread on us.
It would definitely comfort me to know that we have this germ spreading issue under control, but what if we don’t? What if we need to sleep on a plane ride, and there is a drool stain on the seat where you are putting the side of your mouth?
Overall, I think that this article informed me on things about germs I did not know. Reading this makes me want to learn more about germ spreading and how it works, but maybe I’ll be in my “germaphobic” state of mind and won’t want to know…
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