I think the panic is and has been driven by a total lack of action by those that the public sees as protectors of the public health. Not local folks but national. Let's face it the federal response and action was and continues to be pathetic.
Now we are stuck with excessive measures to try to contain or even understand the issues facing us. Since there is no testing, no understanding all we can do is imagine, and the imagination is a powerful thing. But for those 'at risk' they are freaked out. For all they know it's "coming from inside the house'. This is where the federal government should be stepping in, providing accurate coherent, clear information.
We have a population trained to be fearful of illness. A unforeseen result of the vaccine movement and the medical establishment that have both promoted fear from illness, that the solutions are external to us as organisms and that they are the answer to our woes. When they fail or are overwhelmed, people panic.
The comparison to other diseases is just wrong. I can't get cancer from shaking my neighbors hand, ditto for heart disease and diabetes. But I can get Covid-19 or the flu for that matter. But there is no current immunity or vaccine that provides a measure of control. "I can get a flu shot each year and be PROTECTED" forget the reality it's the PERCEPTION.
Until there is more information, more control and more measures for containment long term this thing is dangerous.
When comparing the flu to Covid-19 it not total numbers of deaths that's the factor. It's the percentage of deaths to cases.
Flu - 1 billion cases - death 646,000 worldwide = .06% death rate
Covid -19 - 351,731 cases - deaths 15,374 worldwide = 4.37% death rate. Let's say cases reach 100,000,000 (one tenth of flu) worldwide, deaths could reach 4,730,000. (600% more deaths)
Then add on top of that an economic meltdown. Markets hate uncertainty just as much as humans. Again, the pathetic federal response to what is an obvious problem has lead to fear and panic. The measure of fear in the markets rose from 15 to a record high of 88 or so in just a week or two. That's amazing. That's panic.
The media is not creating the problem, maybe they are helping to create fear, but there is actually real trouble in River City. Both in term of health and economics. And at this level, we need more than half baked partisan solutions.
respectfully