It sends me around the bend when someone, often unthinkingly, nods to the belief that being in cold air, especially without a jacket, may lead to catching a cold. As opposed to what actually causes one to catch a cold--being exposed to cold-causing germs (many rhinoviruses, some coronaviruses).* Many/most such people know better, they are just forgetting the basics of germ theory of disease.
It seems relatively harmless, but then again, maybe mis-apprehension of basic science, when widespread across society, weakens resistance to intellectual contagion. I am absolutely NOT saying that average person who conflates cold exposure with cold transmission is in the RFK camp. Just that misunderstanding facts and science can never be assumed harmless.
(*Yes, there are things about cold weather that make cold germs more likely to assault a person, but that is completely different than mere exposure to cold. But that correlation, and the simple fact that we have named the illness "a cold", does a lot to fuel the confusion.)
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