[oldtimes]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

Serious questions here.

I'm 76 with several comorbidities: coronary artery disease, asthma, cancer diagnosis that thankfully went no farther than removal of one small tumor and nothing since. My wife is 72 and healthy as a horse. We're active people: a lot of tennis, golf, walking, etc. We keep our weight down, keep in shape, and most of all keep a positive attitude.

From day one, neither of us wore masks unless mandated to do so. We made it a point to associate with people who didn't wear masks. We both had COVID early on: I got it in 2020 (didn't know it until after it was over and a blood test during my physical confirmed that I had it previously)--not fun but I've had worse cases of the flu. My wife had it a couple of months later--barely sick at all and didn't even think she had had it until, like me, a blood test confirmed it after-the-fact.

I had the shot (one) in early 2021, not because I thought I needed it but I have family up north in a state where any edict from the loonytunes who run the joint is possible and as I travel there relatively frequently I thought it best to have proof that I did have the shot. My wife has never had the shot.

Neither of us have had so much as a sniffle these past two years - plus.

I know quite a few folks who have had it (only one that has died, but that was because of a heart attack while he was in the hospital well on his way to recovering from COVID). An odd thing...seems as if the folks I know who feared it the most, many after the vaccine and booster, ended up the sickest when they DID catch it.

The questions :

1. What part does fear play in the course of a disease in an individual; and

2. Did the FEAR of COVID, as peddled by the powers-that-be, have a positive, neutral, or negative effect on the course of the pandemic overall?

My spouse and I had the original J&J shot but nothing since. Spouse had Covid once, thought it was Strep. I have not to my knowledge had it. All of the people I know who did not get the shots have not been sick and all of the people I know that did have all their boosters have had Covid multiple times and some were pretty sick. This is not scientific by any means but is good enough for me. I have trust issues.