A Stanford University medical professor argued Tuesday that persistent masking and social distancing mandates are contributing to long-term damage to the immune systems of the public.
Dr. Eran Bendavid, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford University, opined that existing policies to combat COVID-19 and its spread are reducing the public’s exposure to microbes and stopping people’s immune systems from developing a defense against diseases.
“Maintaining good health is often a balancing act. Too much food and we develop obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Too little food and we see stunting and wasting,” Bendavid said. “This kind of equilibrium applies to our interactions with bacteria, viruses, parasites and other microbes. Too much exposure to some microbes leads to disease, and so does too little.”
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“The intensification of hygienic policies with the advent of Covid-19 was understandable. But long-term masking, deep cleaning, distancing and isolation can be harmful to health, especially for children, precisely because it reduces exposure to microbes. Hygiene practices have health risks as well as benefits.”
Civilization has thrived via its ability to combat infectious diseases, and the “great escape” from diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, polio, and smallpox is one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments, according to Bendavid.
Humanity’s liberation from these diseases was the product of clean drinking water, vaccinations, antibiotics, and sanitation, he said.
However, contemporary antiseptic populations have seen rising levels of allergies, Type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, asthma, and a myriad of illnesses with autoimmune components, he continued.
Measures like masking and social distancing may be doing long-term damage to our immune systems, writes Eran Bendavidhttps://t.co/DmKIv9bKNG
— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) February 2, 2022
“Animal studies, laboratory experiments and small trials in humans all point in a similar direction: Avoiding exposure to some microbes prevents the immune system from training well and predisposes to autoimmune diseases,” Bendavid said.
“The risk of untoward consequences from excessive hygiene is particularly striking for children. The immune system gets the most effective tuning during childhood, and reducing its ability to distinguish disease-causing invaders from benign targets is a common mechanism proposed for allergies, asthma and immune-mediated bowel diseases, among others.”
Today’s hygiene mandates must be reassessed, especially when they concern deep cleaning and contact restrictions, the professor wrote.
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“The evidence that masking reduces spread is stronger, but it also limits the exchange of other microbes, which may be deleterious, especially to children,” he said. “The extreme concern for hygiene at the onset of Covid-19 was intuitive and understandable … But policies that were easy to support two years ago need re-evaluation. Distancing, deep-cleaning and masking aren’t ‘more is better’ kinds of goods.”
