[ExI] More deaths from COVID-19 than Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined

[Will Steinberg]

There are nearly 300,000 obesity-attributable deaths per year in the US.

Cancer: ~600,000

Tobacco related (actually, just for cigarettes here): 500,000

Alcohol-related: ~100,000

Are these not bigger health crises?  Particularly cigarettes.  You'd
probably be pretty shocked if they were selling the novel coronavirus at
7-Eleven.  And much like the virus, tobacco can harm those besides the user
(the 'infected').  And what's worse, imagine if selling coronavirus was a
MASSIVE industry worth billions.  And it heavily lobbied the government at
every turn, and even had former execs in government and vice versa.  And
the industry did its best to hide evidence of deadliness, and did not care
about the deadliness, but just sat on their fat piles of death money.

I fail to see why people are freaking out about the virus when they have
been so silent about issues that--by the numbers--are far worse.  And yes,
many of those tobacco-related deaths are (surprise surprise) respiratory
problems that may even (gasp!) require ventilators!  The difference is,
those ventilators might be needed indefinitely--not just for two weeks.

The other day an elderly woman yelled at us for being too close in line; we
were over 10 feet away.  She was buying 4 packs of cigarettes.  When I
pointed this out, she said "that's probably why I won't get the virus" and
that "I also used to ride my bike behind the mosquito sprayer truck".

Come to think of it, it seems like lack of education is probably killing a
lot of people as well...
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