When I was trying to rehab from some injuries I came across someone who very convincingly claimed that one of the primary causes of death in the elderly is falling injuries. The death certificate in these cases usually says pneumonia, but they got the pneumonia because a broken hip makes you bedridden for longer than most of us ever will be in our entire lives, and being bedridden in a hospital is a very effective way to get pneumonia and die.

Most people who die of a gun shot wound don't die instantly, they die from blood loss or organ failure. We write GSW on the certificate because the Rule of Law treats violent assault very differently from self-inflicted injuries. But if you're thinking like a longevity expert, it's bodily instability that is far more likely to kill you.

Covid has a lot of complications. But as an infectious disease, we can argue that we should treat it a bit more like an assault instead of an accident. Perhaps part of the disconnect in thinking between people is that not everyone agrees with that notion, and think of getting Covid like falling in the shower. It's my shower, and my body, if I'd rather die than install bars or get one of those stools then that's my perogative. Of course, your children probably disagree with this and tell you at least once per visit. In an overpopulated world maybe we let people go out their own way.

But you can't make someone else fall in that shower. You can make lots of other people die of Covid by being stupid.