> It's because of one of the most literal examples of survivorship bias. No living people have ever died as a result of taking some particular obviously unsafe shortcut
People take something far more seriously if someone they know, especially a family member, friend, immediate colleague, etc, dies of it, compared to if the only deaths they know are stranger deaths reported in the media. So I don’t think it is true that people will ignore something unless they personally die from it, if your spouse or child or parent or best friend or boss dies from it you will take it very seriously.
I don't personally know anyone who has died from COVID. As far as I know, I don't know anyone who knows anyone who has died of it either. Probably the majority of people are in the same boat as I am. Not saying I don't take it seriously, but I'm sure I'd take it even more seriously if someone I knew died from it.
(A work colleague got sick with it, had to go to spend some time in hospital due to breathing difficulties, but has since recovered – that obviously raises the psychological impact of it for me a bit, but they live in another country, if they lived in the same country, even same metro area, as me, the psychological impact for me would be greater.)
People take something far more seriously if someone they know, especially a family member, friend, immediate colleague, etc, dies of it, compared to if the only deaths they know are stranger deaths reported in the media. So I don’t think it is true that people will ignore something unless they personally die from it, if your spouse or child or parent or best friend or boss dies from it you will take it very seriously.
I don't personally know anyone who has died from COVID. As far as I know, I don't know anyone who knows anyone who has died of it either. Probably the majority of people are in the same boat as I am. Not saying I don't take it seriously, but I'm sure I'd take it even more seriously if someone I knew died from it.
(A work colleague got sick with it, had to go to spend some time in hospital due to breathing difficulties, but has since recovered – that obviously raises the psychological impact of it for me a bit, but they live in another country, if they lived in the same country, even same metro area, as me, the psychological impact for me would be greater.)