Covid Absolutism
Good morning. We look at the debate over coronavirus absolutism.
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In a public health emergency, absolutism is a very tempting response:
People should cease all behavior that creates additional risk.
That instinct led to calls for gay men to stop having sex during the AIDS crisis. It has also spurred campaigns for teen abstinence, to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies. And to fight obesity, people have been drawn to fads like the elimination of carbohydrates.
These days, there is a new absolutist health fad: the discouragement or even prohibition of any behavior that seems to increase the risk of coronavirus infection, even minutely.