I wonder what happened to psychology and neurology as a science? Very few psychologists are discussing it. I think now that huge percentages of people are showing clear signs of hysteria and mass delusion. This is clear enough by the way so many step back away from you and draw their arm over their mouth. What's not understood by politicians is hysteria not only causes delusion with physical symptoms but even temporary blindness has been brought about by shock, or deep seated anxiety. This has happened before in history. A great deal of NHS staff, police and politicians genuinely believe there's a major threat. The giveaway is they don't act rationally or calmly. In my opinion, what so many people fear is facing up to life and accepting reality, with its constant risk of failure, death or loss. So, they break down in a similar way to psychotic disorder, where paranoia and stereotypical repetition often hospitalises the patient. Something is conjured up to embody the fear. A deadly virus. A millenium bug. Witches. Russians who orchestrate election results.
Let's put it this way. During extreme nervousness or phobia your hands sweat and you rush back and forth to the toilet. To stop the symptoms you can try and suppress the physical symptoms by taking a diahorrea pill. Or, much easier is to address the anxiety that causes the problem.
Even if we take the view the virus is real and that the surrounding hysteria is just a reaction to a severe threat, why don't those presumably in authority urge people to keep calm? When did hysteria and negativity ever solve a crisis?
I am not sure how much of the virus people fear so much has a purely bological cause. Initially it was thought to pose a risk to those who had serious comorbid health issues. Now, over time, this has been inflated to "deadly". You could get run over by a bus and they'd now call it Covid related.
Einstein once stated knowledge has a limit but stupidity seeingly has none.