Imperfect comparison but still valid. All lives are eventually lost causing some grief.

(If I may summarize what you've said) Saying that a large number of coincident deaths causes a collective grief that wouldn't have happened otherwise is rather subjective. I have felt nothing of the sort. I don't think it's enough of a concern to justify such an overreach of government power.

Quantifying the value of life as a number is icky but necessary if you're making decisions of this scale.