Why this Covid-19 reaction?

In a Radical Fun article (1) Sean Michael Wilson wonders why Covid-19 is getting so much more attention, such a larger reaction, than deadlier threats like driving, boozing, and smoking. Sean asks good questions and reminded me of recent thoughts.

I am around fifty years old. It seems like new diseases emerge more frequently. In the 1980s it was AIDS, the first new disease that made an impression on me. For decades, AIDS was the only new disease to worry about. For the most part, with a little care and attention you though you could avoid AIDS. People bought condoms, they were not sold out. Toilet paper did not disappear from shelves. The new diseases don't have to be viruses. After AIDS, it was a long time before we heard of diseases like MRSA, bacterial infections that can't be controlled by anti-biotics. And even if the bacterial disease to evolve soon after AIDS, the infections killed people who were already sick and in the hospital. Healthy consumers didn't seem to need to be too concerned for themselves. Unconsciously maybe people think that since the over-use of anti-biotics keeps bacon cheap, losing premature deaths among the already weakened in hospitals and old age homes are worth it. Maybe we share values with Madeleine Alright: she said that the cost was worth it when asked about sanctions that caused the deaths of Iraqi children. Control of oil in the Middle East helps keep bacon cheap too. But all the chemical colors and additives in bacon contribute to cancer.