I don't know anyone, or know anyone who knows anyone, who has died of Covid.
I do know, or at least know of some people who have died of Covid or been hospitalised.
Before Vaccines were available:
A man of mediterranean heritage in his late seventies who died. (My friend's father.)
A white man in his 70's - no idea whether there were other factors, but as far as his family are concerned he went into hospital purely because of Covid and he died. (My friend's father.)
A woman of Caribbean heritage in her sixties who was very ill and hospitalised but who recovered. (My friend's mum.)
A white woman in her late forties, moderately overweight but otherwise healthy, was in ICU and very nearly died. It was absolutely touch and go, and her recovery was very slow once home. (My friend.)
Boris Johnson, a white, moderately overweight but otherwise fit and healthy man who was in ICU for quite a while and nearly died.
Post Vaccine Availability: (although I have no idea whether these people were fully vaxxed or not)
A white man in his fifties who had problems with his kidneys. He died. (My friend's partner.)
A white man in his seventies who was a heavy drinker. Went into hospital with an unrelated injury sustained in a fall (punctured lung) had a positive covid test upon admittance (didn't know he had it) never came home. Died of Covid, not of his other injuries, but the fact that he had a lung injury would not have helped him fight Covid. (My friend's father.)
I also have good friends whose whole family came down with Covid before vaccinations were available. Man in his late 50's with underlying conditions was ill but not seriously so. His wife same age, underlying conditions was ill but not seriously so. Her mother in her late 80's was only mildly ill and recovered fully and quickly. A DD in her 20's with underlying conditions was mildly ill but recovered. The illest person in the house by far was their other DD, slim, fit and healthy in her late 20s. So there is an element of lottery to it.
I do, however, know people who have died since March 2020 of things untreated because of Covid being the only thing that appears to matter.
And I fully agree that it's appalling that Covid is STILL the only thing that seems to matter. I can't wait to see the back of it and for far more prioritisation of non-covid related treatments. The long term implications on the nation's physical and mental health and wellbeing of covid and repeated lockdowns and the inability to get face to face with a GP for the last 18 months or more is catastrophic.
But while we have a healthcare system that treats every life as equally valid and worthy of saving, irrespective of whether that person's illness or injury could be deemed to be in any way self inflicted, or the consequence of poor choices, or whether that person is already extremely elderly or extremely compromised, people who need hospitalisation and emergency treatment for Covid will continue to get it. And that means treatment for other less immediately pressing illnesses will continue to be pushed back.
This is why we NEED to focus on getting as many people as possible fully vaccinated (and then boosted as necessary) as quickly as possible.
As tempting as it is to say 'well the odds suggest I'll be fine, so if you are at risk then you do what you need to do and leave me out of it' just doesn't work in a very highly civilized society like ours. We have a moral obligation to treat every life as equally worthy of saving. We could have a deep philosophical argument about whether that's right or not, and whether we should be taking a more pragmatic, less sentimental approach, but the fact is, at the moment we don't.
And that's why it's so fucking stupid and selfish to continue to refuse to be vaxxed when you are fully able to - especially if you fall into a higher risk demographic yourself. Because the majority of decent community-minded people are taking up your share of the slack. Even though we've gone and got double jabbed and jumped through every hoop we've been asked to, even though the vast majoirty of us would have been fine if we hadn't, we are still living with restrictions of one sort or another, to protect people like you.