Infection Detection, Rejection...Selection: The Second Annual ISA

Back by (un)popular demand, a COVID Confluence: What kind of synchronicity, this? The fact that I have begun a mini series including the topic of diagnostics and detection, just a few days after celebrating mom, and just a few days to the year I introduced you to Ignaz Semmelweis (see May 9th, 2020), and the beginning of the eponymous award. So here we are, already a year later, looking back on what we have learned from the last fourteen months, give or take...including but not exclusive to detection of infection, far after Dr. Semmelweis called for hand washing as a way to reduce infections, particularly in hospital wards devoted to the health of mothers-to-be, after which he was rejected, felt dejected, and eventually hailed as the "saviour of mothers". Quite a shift in public opinion. So, here I am asking you again for this year's nominations for the Ignaz Semmelweis award, an award that is to bestowed on a person(s), procedure(s), or policie(s) that, at first glance, are either unpopular, shunned by the professional community and the public alike, and seem to have no redemptive value. I offer you one for starters, one more shout to moms:

Necessity, the 'Mother'...of all inventions, of course. A saying that reminds us that many of the modern conveniences, cool stuff we have, were 'born' in a crucible of inconvenience, if not crisis. Such as the pandemic of 1918-1920, which called for desperate measures, some of which resembled what we are witnessing and experiencing ourselves the past year. And which indirectly influenced the design of the bathrooms of the future (dimensions of which are now already considered 'retro'). The first nomination for the 2021 Ignaz Semmelweis Award goes to...

Smile, It's Tile! Yes, the 1920's bathrooms saw the rise of the white subway like tiles with very thin grout lines, often with some thin black tiles as border, along with other accent tiles. The white tiles (along with a redesign of the bath tubs) simplified cleaning, made dirt, infectious bacteria more visible by contrast, and became to be appreciated as a nice modernistic aesthetic as well -- the practice of which, of course, became infectious itself and utilized in hospitals and other institutions -- when first cleaned, following a good scrubbing, you can almost see your own smile. So the nomination goes to all those who designed the original tiles, those who install the tiles and last, but not 'yeast', include those who scrub each tile as well as the grout in between. 

Okay, you got something, someone better, more deserving to join the ranks of Ignaz, let me know. And what redesigns do you think will be in store for us following this pandemic? Nominations will stay open until May 12, 2022 or the official end of this pandemic, whichever comes first...