We can compare areas of low versus high rates of vaccinations:
> The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization, and death is higher in unvaccinated than vaccinated persons, and the incidence rate ratios are related to vaccine effectiveness.
* https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7037e1.htm
> The Amish are a good example of a completely unvaccinated community that "beat" Covid.
This works well if you're isolated away from the rest of society, and less so if you wish to mingle with everyone else. So if you wish to enact a self-imposed lockdown you're free to do so, but good luck with your social life.
It's counter intuitive, but due to their religious practices they are all frequently in contact with each other.
Covid reportedly "ripped through" the Amish communities early on because they never locked down and continued going to church.
Being rural didn't prevent them from getting exposed to Covid, it's just their traditions resulted in early development of natural immunity.
"Rural Americans more likely to die from COVID-19"
* https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/09/rural-am...
"Covid is killing rural Americans at twice the rate of people in urban areas"
* https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-killing-rur...
Seems once it (eventually) gets into a community, it can spread quite quickly, and the more isolated nature of the community means reduced readily-available treatment options.
The vaccine certainly helped, but the tide would have turned regardless. The Amish are a good example of a completely unvaccinated community that "beat" Covid.