I was traveling extensively during the Ebola scare several years ago. If you flew, it wasn't uncommon to see people wearing cleaning gloves that went to the elbow, plastic face masks, etc... in any major airport in the US. I found the rudimentary "protective measures" amusing, but there was fear of an outbreak. I figured if the flight crews knew me by name and my drink preferences, if an outbreak happened in the US I'd just have to accept my poor chances, luckily it didn't. I think what we are seeing now, is a result of the measures put in place to try to mitigate C19 spread (effective or not) they acclimated the population to less exposure to "normal" things we generally are exposed to.
Yeah, I'm vaxxed and boosted, if you're not then odds are natural immunity has you at an equal level with current strains. Let's just be glad this is all behind us and we're here. I could dig up a anti-vax post that not claimed, but stated, I WOULD be dead from the vax and my body required to be cremated a long time ago.