@LarryD I'm sorry to hear about your friend. The untimely departure of somebody close to us is always a sad thing regardless of the cause, be it covid, some other ilness, something else entirely. Unfortunately, this covid thing has turned into a highly political and divisive matter. People on both sides don't hesitate to insult or ridicule their opponents.
I do have very strong opinions regarding the covid crisis and its consequences, but I'm reluctant to reveal them here. I also prefer not to share whether I got the vaccine or not, save amongst very close friends and relatives. I've gotten involved in countless arguments about it, at varying levels of animosity, and I have no desire to rekindle anything of the sort on a forum about programming and electronics. It strikes my as particularly out of place to do so upon the news of a man's death, even if I didn't know him any more than I know the people he left behind.