I'm somewhere in between. For myself, because I'm young and healthy, I'm not overly concerned about catching it myself.

However, I can also appreciate that in aggregate, the medical impact is higher than a normal flu. Hospitals have been overwhelmed (in Italy most famously, but here in Iceland it was also dicey for a bit around the peak). In that sense, I see it as being socially irresponsible not to take low-cost/low-effort preventative measures (mask/sanitizer).

Where it gets murkier for me is in the shutdown of businesses. I'm not sure I really have an opinion one way or the other on that. On one hand I can appreciate it sucks hard for those impacted. On the other, Iceland's second wave originated from an outbreak in a bar, so some kind of precautions are clearly needed. On the other other hand, at that time life was back to normal, so even normal precautions were completely ignored, so maybe we could have kept businesses open but just with precautions, which is the path we're taking now which seems to be working so far, though right now we're quite strict on international travel.

And though I've been drawing observations from anecdotes in Iceland, Iceland's numbers have never been very high because there just aren't that many people. Maybe the optimal approach is different in a higher-density location like New York.

IMO the solution to merging the realities is to humbly admit although we have statistics, none of us have all the answers. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Also, IMO, relationships are far more important than politics, especially politics as transitory as pandemic response. I argue with family about our differing perceptions of the pandemic, but at the end of the day I still believe they're doing the best they can and how wrong I think they are about some things is totally irrelevant to the relationship.

I'm so surprised that the "just a flu" crowd has endured for so long. Deaths are rare, but at least among the people I know who've had it, severe reactions are common place. Plenty of people consider this the worst illness they've had in their life to this point, many considered hospitalizing themselves, and I know people who have been saddled with fatigue, muscle soreness, and shortness of breath months later. Those that have had mild symptoms count themselves lucky. Surely at this point, everyone knows someone who has had a bad bout of covid. Of course, people don't necessarily advertise that they've had covid since generally they get it by doing something irresponsible and regrettable in hindsight, so maybe that's why some people lack this context.

Which reality, in your opinion, is the real one according to measurements?

Both are real, to different people, in different communities.

Exactly my point. I don't know enough to make a value judgement one way or the other, simply pointing out how shocking it is when you come into contact with someone from an alternate reality to your own.

And I don't mean real as in "belief", I mean real as in actual factual reality.

So it's not an "alternate" reality (that's usually used as pejorative), it's a different situation to your own.