COVID-19 has forced us to spend time, money, energy, and inconvenience.  We have spent it and completely changed the way we live in the name of “staying healthy” and “protecting others”.  Let’s look at some statistics about other things we could be spending time, money, energy, and inconvenience on that were causing disease and death (LOTS OF IT) for ourselves and others long before COVID-19.

Cigarette Smoking
Deaths per year in the US: 480,000
Yearly Economic Cost in the US: $300 Billion

Unhealthy Diet:
Deaths per year in the US: 678,000
Yearly Economic Cost in the US: $50 Billion ($300/person)
Globally 1 in 5 deaths are a result of poor diet. 

“This study affirms what many have thought for several years — that poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world,” says study author Dr Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, USA.”

Medical Errors:
Deaths per year in the US: 250,000
Yearly Economic Cost in the US: $1 Trillion in “lost human potential
…making it the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.

Alcohol:
Deaths per year in the US: 88,000
Yearly Economic Cost in the US: $249 Billion
…making alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States behind tobacco(first) and poor diet and physical activity (second).  

(YET, fast food joints and milkshake sugary laden coffee shops are “essential” businesses and gyms are not?  Seems like somebody’s priorities are backward)

Why are we not investing our time, money, energy, and inconvenience into remedying the above?  Wear a mask if you would like, but it isn’t going to help you or anybody else if we don’t take care of the above as the grim reaper is just waiting around the bend whether you are masked or unmasked, socially distanced or chest to back, vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Stall or destroy the tobacco companies, not the economy.
Shut down the sugar factories and junk food distributors/companies not the world.
Ensure medical professionals are getting proper rest and using checklists instead of forcing them to work more and code everything as COVID-19.
Figure out how to prevent alcohol-related death and injury instead of driving people to drink more of it with fear and stress messaging.  

Where are you investing your time, money, energy, and inconvenience?