Thread by @Friedemann1

The season of common cold viruses has started. Due to a phenomenon called "interference", this COULD actually be helping a bit against SARS-CoV-2.
But interference is short-lived, so it is neither an argument to drop the mask mandates, nor to refrain from getting vaccinated
1/10

So what is interference? It means that infection by one virus can be inhibitory to other viruses (either same or different species) that come a bit afterwards. This can be observed both in cell culture and in epidemiology
2/10

The molecular mechanisms behind it can be different, but the most important factor is (drum roll....)

Interferon

Thats where the name comes from (classic paper!)

3/10
acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.332…

Interferon (IFN) are cytokines, i.e. small messenger molecules (protein, not RNA) that are produced and secreted by infected cells. IFNs alarm other cells and prompt them to go into a so-called antiviral state. On short term and at the local level this is great...
4/10

...but if the entire organism is involved because infection has spread already widely - that's not healthy at all, it is actually part of the "cytokine storm" that is causing severe COVID-19
5/10

So if cells are in an antiviral state, they are much better at fending off virus infections.
This can explain why people rarely have the flu and a cold (typically by rhinoviruses) at the same time:
6/10
thelancet.com/journals/lanmi…

Similarly to flu, rhinoviruses can protect to some extent from infection by SARS-CoV-2:
7/10
rupress.org/jem/article/21…

But again: this is not a perfect or long-term protection, but a transient phenomenon. The only long-term protection is the vaccine, and a mask helps you to keep SARS-CoV-2 out while actually not protecting that well from rhinoviruses
8/10
nature.com/articles/s4159…

So with the mask, you may have a double benefit by filtering out SARS-CoV-2 AND still catching the extra short-term protection by common cold rhinoviruses.
And please...
9/10

don't rip your mask off and take a deep breath when someone next to you is sneezing. You can't know it s really rhinoviruses, could be something much more nasty.
10/10