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Covid Is More Like Smoking Than the Flu
February 20, 2022 at 10:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard 66 Comments
https://politicalwire.com/2022/02/20/covid-is-more-like-smoking-than-the-flu/
"SNIP.....
The Atlantic: The end state of this pandemic may indeed be one where COVID comes to look something like the flu. Both diseases, after all, are caused by a dangerous respiratory virus that ebbs and flows in seasonal cycles.
But Id propose a different metaphor to help us think about our tenuous moment: The new normal will arrive when we acknowledge that COVIDs risks have become more in line with those of smoking cigarettesand that many COVID deaths, like many smoking-related deaths, could be prevented with a single intervention. The pandemics greatest source of danger has transformed from a pathogen into a behavior. Choosing not to get vaccinated against COVID is, right now, a modifiable health risk on par with smoking.
......SNIP"
crickets
(25,983 posts)pidge
(274 posts)crickets
(25,983 posts)The author is aware that there isn't a 1:1 correlation. The piece is still a valuable and eye-opening discussion of social responsibility and social/health costs associated with deliberate decisions of some to refuse behaviors that would decrease illness and death for themselves and others.
cadoman
(792 posts)We need to stop minimizing this shit. It's a fucking PANDEMIC that has necessitated emergency declarations and measures the world over.
Stop comparing it with flu or fucking smoking. It's nowhere near the same stratosphere.
NickB79
(19,271 posts)A lot of COVID survivors have had years taken off their lives already. We'll see elevated death rates for the next 20 years from this thing.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,044 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(49,044 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,191 posts)...I think it's a silly comparison.
Underestimating the addictive nature of smoking to make this comparison is foolish.
It's a million times harder to quit smoking than it is to get a shot or wear a mask.
The behavioral connection is fine, but I hate it. They're not really analogous.
NickB79
(19,271 posts)But in rural and conservative areas, there's a HUGE amount of peer pressure to not vaccinate or wear a mask, if all of your peers are not just against it but actively using it as a litmus test of your politics (how messed up is that?).
That kind of pressure can be very powerful, if you risk isolating yourself from friends and family. Hence why we've seen news stories about people in small towns getting vaccinated in secret.
ProfessorGAC
(65,191 posts)But, that's not what the author set up as the premise.
And, that addiction is not contagious. A reasonable debate can be had about "how bad, bad is" regarding secondhand smoke.
But, there's far from any consensus that secondhand smoke causes a nicotine addiction.
So, the deleterious effects are not comparable as one us contagious & the other is not.
But, I have no doubt what you say is true about vaxxing especially in rural enclaves.