Doesn't really matter. A virus is way easier to combat than established bad habits. You could say the same about smoking and drinking, but it's moot to talk about it. It's only logical to tackle the easier to solve problem first or maybe do both at the same time? It's not like people have stopped caring about other issues during the pandemic.

I mean, most never cared about other issues, to begin with. 9 million people died of hunger last year. 3 million were children under 5. I strongly suspect that would take less financial resources and logistic planning to solve than vaccinating everyone for Covid and instead, here we are, shocked that retired boomers in developed countries are dying above usual rates.

Whataboutism? I'd rather consider it relevant context to determine whether certain attitudes or concerns are actually fair and not merely deflections...

I mean, so many people are like oooh 2020 is the worst year ever. Pal, you don't need to go more than ten or fifteen years to the past to find out, for the average human being, in terms of life expectancy, income, etc., that life was worse than this, all the time.

"For comparison's sake, how many people died in 2020 from the consequences of too high sugar and fat intake over the course of their lives?

I am pretty sure that the food industry is a much bigger threat to human life than the virus" 

A couple of years back a strange virus broke out in my country. Its syntoms were fever, joint pain and diarrea, but it was not lethal so no extra meassures were taken against it, so in less than two months almost everyone got it.  So after seeing first hand how fast a virus can spread I can't help but wonder what would've happened if no meassures had been taken to try to stop this one.

The point I'm trying to make is that these "low" numbers are precisely BECAUSE we haven't been able to go to a movie theater, a music concert, a sport game, a night out at the disco, etc, etc, for the last eight months, not to mention the fact that we have had to wear masks and try to avoid human contact as much as possible. I'm pretty sure things would be much MUCH different now if nothing had been done to try to slow down its spread.

A virus is only easier to combat because politicians have no spine. If they weren't servants of capitalism, then it would be clear to everyone that combating a virus is not easier.

A good example of this is sugar tax. The reason why a lot of sugar is added to processed food and drinks is because sugar tastes good and is a cheap ingredient, making it a win-win for producers; the downside is that it's unhealthy which in turn puts a lot of strain on healthcare. With COVID-19, politicians came up with a lot of measures that were often inconsistent and illogical, and which will ultimately cost the people of all countries a lot of money, because all variants of relief bills consist of a combination of taxpayer money and states taking on more debt which will have to be paid back with taxpayer money. On the other hand, sugar tax is a single easy to implement measure with longlasting positive effects and on top of that it isn't detrimental to the common people. Sugar tax makes sugar a more expensive ingredient, so producers will refrain from adding a lot of sugar for the sake of profitability; it really is that easy.

The coronavirus made peoples all around the world unite together because it was played up to be an immense threat despite being something that the vast majority was easily going to survive without any lasting drawbacks for their health. Meanwhile, there are much bigger problems with more severe consequences that keep leaving people cold. That makes it very easy to be cynical about humanity's grasp of common sense. Just like the high approval ratings of politicians who ordered strict corona measures, simply because not a lot of people died, completely ignoring that there was never going to be a big number to die because of COVID to begin with. But what can you do when the media has hammered the threat of corona into people's heads by continuously highlighting the worst cases instead of pointing to how many people got off easily.

The thing that bothers me the most about all those corona measures is that no country went with the simple idea of isolating its risk groups from the rest of the population instead of isolating everyone. The cherry on top is that old people are the most likely to not go along with the measures for reasons like having no faith in politics because they've become numb over decades of lies and deception, or having already experienced so many other crises that they know that it's always made out to be much worse than it really is.

Thankfully, the vaccines are coming. Because otherwise we would have politicians repeat the same thing again and again.

A virus is only easier to combat because politicians have no spine. If they weren't servants of capitalism, then it would be clear to everyone that combating a virus is not easier.

A good example of this is sugar tax. The reason why a lot of sugar is added to processed food and drinks is because sugar tastes good and is a cheap ingredient, making it a win-win for producers; the downside is that it's unhealthy which in turn puts a lot of strain on healthcare. With COVID-19, politicians came up with a lot of measures that were often inconsistent and illogical, and which will ultimately cost the people of all countries a lot of money, because all variants of relief bills consist of a combination of taxpayer money and states taking on more debt which will have to be paid back with taxpayer money. On the other hand, sugar tax is a single easy to implement measure with longlasting positive effects and on top of that it isn't detrimental to the common people. Sugar tax makes sugar a more expensive ingredient, so producers will refrain from adding a lot of sugar for the sake of profitability; it really is that easy.

The coronavirus made peoples all around the world unite together because it was played up to be an immense threat despite being something that the vast majority was easily going to survive without any lasting drawbacks for their health. Meanwhile, there are much bigger problems with more severe consequences that keep leaving people cold. That makes it very easy to be cynical about humanity's grasp of common sense. Just like the high approval ratings of politicians who ordered strict corona measures, simply because not a lot of people died, completely ignoring that there was never going to be a big number to die because of COVID to begin with. But what can you do when the media has hammered the threat of corona into people's heads by continuously highlighting the worst cases instead of pointing to how many people got off easily.

The thing that bothers me the most about all those corona measures is that no country went with the simple idea of isolating its risk groups from the rest of the population instead of isolating everyone. The cherry on top is that old people are the most likely to not go along with the measures for reasons like having no faith in politics because they've become numb over decades of lies and deception, or having already experienced so many other crises that they know that it's always made out to be much worse than it really is.

Thankfully, the vaccines are coming. Because otherwise we would have politicians repeat the same thing again and again.

1. After so many months of COVID it should be common knowledge that the vast majority of corona infections resulted in no, mild or only moderate symptoms.

2. When governments are able to push through measures that apply to the whole population, then they are capable of doing the same for a smaller group. Risk groups that live in the same household as people who don't belong to a risk group, that is solved by the no-risk people doing the same thing that they are supposed to do during the actual measures that were applied; namely, keep contact to people outside the household as low as possible, do home office or work only a few hours per week while still getting nearly the same pay as for the full-time job.

Elderly who live alone can rely on relatives, neighbors or delivery services to get their necessary shopping done. Visiting a doctor isn't a problem either, because going outside doesn't lead to a corona infection while at the doctor's place there are rules to keep potential corona infections to a minimum anyway.

Everyone else can go on with their lives and meet other people, except that typical hazards aren't allowed: Big events don't get to have spectators, pubs and clubs are closed, any kind of big gatherings with notable consumption of alcoholic beverages. Vacations in other countries will have to be followed up by 14 days of quarantine at home. But when you put these things together, you need a whole lot less money to subsidize ailing businesses, because you focus on the few that pose an actual threat for the health of the whole population.

Did I mention mask duty in shops along with keeping distance to other customers? In any case, I am not proposing a "let's not do anything to keep the spread down", but rather a way to focus on where the actual risks are instead of treating everyone and everything the same.

It's also fact that people die in car crashes. But that didn't mean that cars got outlawed, rather step after step was taken to make driving safer without taking away people's driver licenses in the meantime.

Yes, it's fact that young people can seriously suffer from COVID, but it's also fact that the vast majority does not.

A virus is only easier to combat because politicians have no spine. If they weren't servants of capitalism, then it would be clear to everyone that combating a virus is not easier.

The coronavirus made peoples all around the world unite together because it was played up to be an immense threat despite being something that the vast majority was easily going to survive without any lasting drawbacks for their health. Meanwhile, there are much bigger problems with more severe consequences that keep leaving people cold. That makes it very easy to be cynical about humanity's grasp of common sense. Just like the high approval ratings of politicians who ordered strict corona measures, simply because not a lot of people died, completely ignoring that there was never going to be a big number to die because of COVID to begin with. But what can you do when the media has hammered the threat of corona into people's heads by continuously highlighting the worst cases instead of pointing to how many people got off easily.

The thing that bothers me the most about all those corona measures is that no country went with the simple idea of isolating its risk groups from the rest of the population instead of isolating everyone. The cherry on top is that old people are the most likely to not go along with the measures for reasons like having no faith in politics because they've become numb over decades of lies and deception, or having already experienced so many other crises that they know that it's always made out to be much worse than it really is.

Thankfully, the vaccines are coming. Because otherwise we would have politicians repeat the same thing again and again.