How do illnesses and diseases spread?

[Dave2002]

The CV-19 epidemic has many of us frantically washing our hands, and not going out. Recently I read about Piers Morgan - not his falling out with DT - tragedy - "unfollowed" - but rather his becoming ill. Apparently he became ill with some symptoms and was advised to have tests for Covid-19, The tests came back negative. In his case he probably did come loosely into contact with some people.

What I'm curious about is how two of us, living in one house, with hardly any contact with anyone, can get ill at all. I do suffer periodically from allergies, such as hay fever, and living in a rural area having moved away from England it's perhaps not surprising that sometimes I get respiratory issues from pollen etc. One issue there is the size of the pollen particles - are they a lot bigger than the virus? I don't know.

Even despite that, I suspect that not all the symptoms we each have from time to time are not simply from air born allergens, so how is it that we are still occasionally feeing ill? We don't answer the door, we don't talk to people. Maybe problems are coming in via envelopes and packaging, or maybe food.

Has anyone else who has had minimal contact with others outside noticed this kind of thing? There must be an explanation, surely.

[MrGongGong]

You might catch something from this

[Padraig]

You might catch something from this

Plus, coughs, sneezes, cigarettes, whiskey, wild wild women. This is a case for Google who will have at least a million pages for whiling away the time in lock down. Oh, reading is bad for tired old eyes.

[Dave2002]

You might catch something from this

I’m working on that ... but I’m not sharing my knobs with anyone.

[MrGongGong]

I’m working on that ... but I’m not sharing my knobs with anyone.

That's one way of spreading disease

[Dave2002]

You might catch something from this

I’m working on that ... but I’m not sharing my knobs with anyone.

Ah - just noticed the brand or make of that box ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Virus

[Old Grumpy]

The CV-19 epidemic has many of us frantically washing our hands, and not going out. Recently I read about Piers Morgan - not his falling out with DT - tragedy - "unfollowed" - but rather his becoming ill. Apparently he became ill with some symptoms and was advised to have tests for Covid-19, The tests came back negative. In his case he probably did come loosely into contact with some people.

What I'm curious about is how two of us, living in one house, with hardly any contact with anyone, can get ill at all. I do suffer periodically from allergies, such as hay fever, and living in a rural area having moved away from England it's perhaps not surprising that sometimes I get respiratory issues from pollen etc. One issue there is the size of the pollen particles - are they a lot bigger than the virus? I don't know.

Even despite that, I suspect that not all the symptoms we each have from time to time are not simply from air born allergens, so how is it that we are still occasionally feeing ill? We don't answer the door, we don't talk to people. Maybe problems are coming in via envelopes and packaging, or maybe food.

Has anyone else who has had minimal contact with others outside noticed this kind of thing? There must be an explanation, surely.

Pollen particles are MUCHbigger than viruses...

Pollen

Virus

[Dave2002]

Pollen particles are MUCHbigger than viruses...

Pollen

Virus

The smallest pollen grain, that of the forget-me-not (Myosotis spp.),[which?] is 2.5-5 µm (0.005 mm) in diameter.[4] Corn pollen grains are large, about 90–100 µm.[5] Most grass pollen is around 20-25 µm

- apparently, whereas

Coronaviruses are large, mostly spherical, sometimes pleomorphic (changeable in shape), particles with bulbous surface projections.[42] The average diameter of the virus particles is around 125 nm (.125 μm). The diameter of the envelope is 85 nm and the spikes are 20 nm long.

from entries in wikipedia.

[Cockney Sparrow]

There is a graphic of comparative sizes on this page - red blood cell, a bacillus, Coronavirus. (its a website on filtering, etc which has turned its hand to materials for home-made Face masks).

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-diy-coronavirus-homemade-mask-material-covid/