No Policy Can Save Lives; It Can Only Trade Lives

Five-thousand Americans die each year from choking on solid food. We could save every one of those lives by mandating that all meals be pureed. Pureed food isn't appetizing, but if it saves just one life, it must be worth doing.

Our daily actions prove that none of us believes that if it saves just one life" is a reasonable basis for making decisions. Yet, when a threat like the coronavirus emerges, we go looking for an imaginary cure that will save lives without tradeoffs.