Don’t Spit on the Ground During a Pandemic (or Ever)
It pains me to write this, but every maze or spit I see put to the ground during a pandemic makes me choke even more. This is a pre-COVID-19 scourge, and the use of the sidewalk or street as a personal spittoon is so ingrained in our culture that the trend continues unabated, even though people on the street wear masks to prevent transmission of COVID.
I know I’m in serious danger of sounding like an angry dad, but I don’t care: I’m here to admonish those who relish their ways of spraying, because you deserve to feel bad and you really should cut this shit. …
Spitting spreads disease
I know Dr. Fauci did not run a nationwide PSA about the dangers of spitting with impunity, but you should still know that this is obscenely reckless given the current state of the pandemic. It should be repeated that there is a global epidemic that affects the United States more than any other country; we have over 300,000 people who have died from COVID-19 in less than a year , and those grim numbers really don’t see signs of abating in the near future. So why the hell do you spit on the ground where people walk?
COVID is transmitted in many ways, and yes, the saliva you spew on the ground is one of the ways that this virus spreads. But wait, it can spread other diseases as well!
The BBC has kindly laid out a few more conditions that can be passed on through saliva:
Diseases that are transmitted through saliva include tuberculosis, hepatitis, viral meningitis, cytomegalovirus, a common virus similar to the herpes virus, and Epstein-Barr virus, which is a common herpes virus that causes many diseases such as glandular fever.
We know that outdoor transmission of COVID is lower than prolonged indoor contact with an infected person. You probably won’t get the virus just by walking past someone who just spat on the ground, but that doesn’t mean you should spit on the ground during a pandemic. After all, if you have COVID, does it help or hurt you to spit in public? I think you know the answer.
Dude, it’s not hard
Many of the traditional ways of showing stereotypical masculine bullshit have been rejected by the pandemic, so it might seem like the tough guys everywhere have a great tragedy. But the only thing left available in this climate is the ability to spit. The government cannot take that away from you, so congratulations, patriot. However, spitting has never made anyone look cool or tough. What you think oozes raw, unlimited masculinity is simply spreading germs and putting you on a par with an alpaca than a UFC fighter.
Quitting a habit is easy
Look at it the other way: you are not addicted to spitting. I happily admit that certain allergies and diseases cause excessive saliva production, so sometimes the need to spit arises from a real medical problem beyond the spittoon’s control. But if you don’t have any chronic medical condition, ask yourself why you need it at all.
It is a habit or a compulsion, but it is not a necessity, like breathing or a fart. The sooner you understand this, the sooner you can get rid of this habit. Or, if you’re going to spit, at least do it out of sight and earshot of others. (This sound … ugh.) I hope that someday more people will understand the relationship between public health and disgusting habits such as spitting.