It’s a fair point to say that causality is complicated. But COVID as a cause of death is like a match as a cause for a forest fire. It only has an effect in cer

It’s a fair point to say that causality is complicated. But COVID as a cause of death is like a match as a cause for a forest fire. It only has an effect in certain conditions, but when those conditions are in place, it is certainly to blame for triggering the unfortunate event. The question here is: would these people have died when they did if they had not had Covid? (Would the forest have burned if the match had not been lit?) If the answer is “no”, which it probably is in aggregate for cities and states whose death rate has increased since January 2020, then the virus does share at least some of the blame for these deaths. It may even be the proximal cause. Doesn’t mean it’s the only cause, or that people wouldn’t have benefited from a healthier lifestyle. But the implication that these people died from other causes — and would have died anyway when they did - is also disingenuous.