Cold weather does not make people sick, germs do.

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What about light?

Reduced daylight in the Winter = reduced/deficient vitamin D levels = suppressed immune system compared to Summer months.

If it’s not the cold, there Has to be some
explanation as to why there is a “cold and flu season.” Perhaps it’s light (or lack thereof) vs temperature.

This is, after all, the explanation for S.A.D. which causes stress & depression that are Also no good for your body’s immune defences.

Sick is also slang for any kind of state in which a person is less than optimal.

Molds certainly thrive in warm moist conditions, and many cause illnesses including life-threatening illnesses. So it depends on how you define “germ.”

Whether a person gets “sick” from the cold is dependent on many factors, the virulence of the “germ”, the amount of infectious agent present, environmental factors and susceptibility of the host (person getting “sick.”)

“Cold doesn’t make you sick, germs make you sick,” is something frustrated moms say to get their kids to go outside in the winter, or a snotty (pun intended) kid trying to bully you.

I suspect that is part of it but there is another explanation. That of humidity. As the cold winter months come upon us, the humidity levels drop. Aerosols are light microscopic particles that float. As humidity levels drop, some of the moisture evaporates making the virus particles even lighter and they float for hours. For an analogy, think of a room of cigarette smoke. When you pass into the room, even though the person who was originally smoking left awhile ago, you breathe in the smoke. This is similar to an infected person expelling microscopic viral particle. You breathe them deep into your lungs. The low humidity also affects the mucus which lines your throat and lungs. That is part of your immune system. It is now in a weakened state. And you become infected with the virus.

So during the dry winter months, the indoor environment produces an ideal breeding ground for viral infections.

If you want to protect yourself from the virus, maintain your indoor relative humidity levels above 40%.

What kind of fake news sorcery is this?

It pisses rain from October/November until ~May. It’s hardly dry over the Winter months.

Mentioned back on the first page. Try and keep up

I don't fear the cold, cold fears me.

It's true that germs make people sick but big rappid changes in temperature can weaken the body's immune system. Going outside from a warm building when the temp outside is below freezing & then going back into that warm building is hard on the body & can make it more suseptable to germs.

Germs cause illness.

But people cramming together causes germs.

Probably why - apart from the dry air from my heater - I'm not having as many colds as usual this time of year. I'm only exposed to my family and they're only exposed to each other and me.

Normally mum would be going into dozens of schools which in itself even if nobody else went anywhere would be highly risky in terms of catching a cold. Schools spread germs really quickly.

It will depend upon the region where you live. Where I live, the weather turns cold and it snows and temperatures will drop down to -20 deg F or colder [-29 deg C]. I heat with wood for around 6 months out of the year.

In the Midwest and Northeast U.S., winter humidity is the driving force. Western Canada has a different environment during the winter months.

That seems very plausible.

I'd say also maybe because many people are less active in the winter, which might lower their immune system.

And there's less fresh fruit available from local growers unless you don't experience a severe winter in the first place (near the equator)

I wonder if it's more to do with sudden variations in temperature?

In the UK home aircon is pretty rare, so in the Summer it's almost the same temperature indoors as out. Whereas in Winter some people insist on heating their homes to summer levels, when it's cold outside, so there's a massive temperature shock when you come in, or go out.

I'd be interested to know whether colds and flu are more common all year round in areas where aircon is used as a matter of course in the Summer, as well as (or instead of) heating in the Winter. So you get regular change in temperature shocks from going shopping, for example.

Incidentally...

As long as you are all still healthy, I'll stay.