[jensv]

What about deaths due to smoking or obesity? Should we ban bacon and cigarettes?

"Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year. If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn't change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.Mar. 23, 2020"

"Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with at least 2.8 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese. Once associated with high-income countries, obesity is now also prevalent in low- and middle-income countries.Jun. 9, 2021"

[gilbetron]

We did ban smoking in public spaces because of the same reasoning as with Covid - it's ok to do dumb things that affect yourself, but not if it affects others.

[josephcsible]

Why don't we ban driving? We'd save a lot of lives lost to car crashes. And a lot of those lives are passengers and pedestrians, i.e., "others".

[commandlinefan]

Well, not that I remotely agree with the ridiculous overreaction to COVID, world-wide, nor do I think any of this is reasonable, but you can’t give somebody smoking or obesity by sneezing on them - you can with Coronavirus. So it’s still apples to oranges.

[lambdaba]

Isn't it probable that people most at risk are also more likely to spread the virus? They would shed much more virus, wouldn't they? So it's not so simple, someone who has a better functioning immune system represents a lesser risk to others. Is there a counterargument? I do recall some studies acknowledge this, but I don't have a reference.

[8note]

Relevance?