
Did California plastic bag ban result in San Diego's current hepatitis outbreak? - subroutine
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-plastic-bag-ban-led-hep-health-crisis/
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erentz
No. Lack of universal health care and a proper social safety net resulted in
the Hepatitis outbreak.

Hepatitis can be prevented through vaccination, which a universal health care
system would provide. Through treatment, which a universal health care system
would provide. And proper sanitary conditions, which taking care of people so
they don't have to live on the streets would provide.

~~~
mattnewport
We still get hepatitis outbreaks here in Canada despite our universal
healthcare. Universal healthcare does not automatically solve the problem of
getting vaccinations to vulnerable populations or prioritizing the right
interventions at the right time given limited resources.

Maybe our situation is better here in this regard, I don't know the
statistics, but it's demonstrably false that universal healthcare
automatically prevents hepatitis outbreaks.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Some people might not vaccinate their kids for dumber reasons than not having
insurance.

~~~
mattnewport
Part of my point was that the homeless are a particularly difficult population
to reach with health interventions like vaccinations even with universal
healthcare.

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thenewwazoo
How many public health crises in the USA can be boiled down to "the USA fails
to provide a safety net that ensures a certain standard of living"? If this
plastic-bag hypothesis bears out, it'll be yet another.

~~~
frogpelt
There people living in the streets pooping in bags.

And you think we just need more safety nets?

~~~
SomeStupidPoint
....Yes?

The support system in the US is drastically underfunded, which leads to it
being understaffed and underprovisioned for the tasks it tries to accomplish.
There's a second layer of ideological opposition to helping poor people that
exacerbates the problem.

Proper funding and removing ideology-driven sabotage for safety nets would
remove a sizable amount of street bag pooping.

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rossdavidh
Does it seem to anybody else that having widely available public restrooms
would be a way better (including way more hygienic) way to address this issue?

~~~
cbhl
But nobody wants to build (and keep clean) a bathroom in their backyard (the
_for homeless people_ is implied). And anyone who did would have protests from
their neighbors.

Lava Mae addressed this by building portable showers out of old buses (to the
tune of ~$1M per bus) and trailers (cheaper).

~~~
djsumdog
That makes me think of Rick and Morty:

Beth, do you still love me?

Ugh, what kind of question is that?

The "yes or no" kind?

Jerry, do you want homeless people to have homes?

Yes.

Are you gonna build them?

No.

Then what good was the "yes"?

Wait, is loving me the house or the homeless people?

Loving you is work, Jerry hard work, like building a homeless shelter nobody
wants to say no to doing it, but some people put the work in. So, what do you
say? Do you see me working here? Does this conversation seem tedious to me?

Sort of.

Then I obviously sort of love you, don't I?

~~~
subroutine
While we are on jokes about this, could you imagine if someone raised the
argument back in November... "If California bans plastic bags obviously bums
will poop everywhere, and hundreds of people will get Hepatitis until we
bleach the streets."

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dottrap
Related: Plastic Bag Ban Responsible For Spike In E. Coli Infections, Study
Says

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/plastic-bag-
ban_n_2...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/plastic-bag-
ban_n_2641430.html)

~~~
gertef
and the rebuttal, which argues that nearly all of the increase in infections
is due to a bacteria wave that started before the ban and was international in
breadth:

[http://berkeleyblog.wpengine.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/02/...](http://berkeleyblog.wpengine.com/wp-
content/uploads/2013/02/SF-Health-Officer-MEMO-re-Reusable-Bag-
Study_V8-FIN1.pdf)

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tareqak
From the article:

 _The best defense is getting vaccinated — which is free because of the
epidemic. The vaccine used to cost about $100. If you’ve traveled to the third
world, you’ve probably gotten the two injections a month apart. It’s good for
life — no boosters needed._

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otakucode
Grumble grumble grumble... the description of Hepatitis A as a 'hardy virus'
and claims "It thrives in cold temperatures and you have to heat it to 185
degrees to kill it" are idiotic and contribute to ignorance. Viruses are not
alive. You can not kill a virus. You can destroy it, but it is already dead.
All viruses are this way.

"It can live for months outside the body." is simply straight-up patently
false. It is not alive, and unless it is somehow destroyed, it can remain
infectious effectively forever. This is how viruses work. They can't move,
they can't reproduce, they have no metabolism. They are not living things.
They are merely a fortuitous compilation of parts that, if put in contact with
a particular kind of cell, cause that cell to begin producing copies of the
jumble of parts until the virus explodes.

I'm sorry, but this sort of thing bugs me to no end. We can never expect
people to learn the basics of infectious disease if we actively lie to them.
And no, the intent of making it 'easy to understand' by lying is no excuse.
"Good intentions are the opposite of good actions."

~~~
subroutine
Define 'life'. (bonus points for not using wikipedia)

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kazinator
Maybe bio-degradable bags would work for the purpose referred to in the
article? The kind from a material that can be used for kitchen waste (food
scraps).

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santaclaus
Seems like a good opportunity to design and distribute plastic bags
specifically for people poops (sort of like the bags for dog poops).

~~~
djsumdog
Or maybe fix the low cost housing problem and maybe create better homeless day
centers and public bathrooms? Just an idea...

~~~
subroutine
Hang up doggy bag distributers on telephone poles downtown - sure just give me
an afternoon.

Also, fix the homeless problem. -
[https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tasks.png](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tasks.png)

~~~
ModernMech
It's interesting to me that now the "figure out if the picture is of a bird"
task is becoming "gimme a few hours"

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guelo
As usual the answer to the question in the headline is no. You can read the
article for more.

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trapperkeeper74
If enough people are sleeping rough, Hep A is an issue among others.

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wrycoder
/me search thread for "paper"

No hits

~~~
subroutine
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