They are still active, but you deleted all the content that would allow you to use them. It's kinda like you have a locked box and destroyed the keys; the box exists but you can't use/open it.
So you're not in the situation I described. LE also enforces a rate limit, so if you do it enough in a short period of time, you'll soon not be able to get new certificates for a bit. By repeatedly getting new certificates re-issued, you're also wasting resources that could serve you for other names or others and making it that much more difficult for LE to continue to provide their services.
Additionally, you can only revoke certificates if you have your account information that's saved in that folder. By removing it, you now have no way to explicitly revoke a certificate you had issued.