The pandemic is real. I experienced it also around myself. Fortunate, I live in an environment in which we afford to have PCR tests for every suspicious case, and well treatment. And yes, I experienced similar numbers (more precise, in my company we had 12% infection rate - confirmed by PCR and antibodies tests). But also we had access to vaccine here, and nobody (neither friends of my friends) was disabled. Yes, friends of my friends died with/from COVID, but nobody suffered from the vaccine.