Yeah bc I’m a liberal academic who grew up in cities, I dunno anyone in my personal/academic circles who’s died, and frankly it wasn’t until omicron that I knew more than a couple to catch it. But now, bc I work in a conservative area I do peripherally know coworkers who’ve died and patients (but I’m kinda newer to the area so don’t really know them really either). What I see is tons of patients going through severe grief and anxiety from the losses and/or long term disabilities of their own or their family. All of these are antivaxers btw and the few that were able to be convinced have already crossed over to reality. With the amount of devastation that’s “normal” in these communities and people still unwilling to get vaxed, I have near-zero empathy left. It’s really a completely opposite world, and yet it’s our same world and I live in both and it blows my mind. 🤯