You can offer people faith and hope, but in the end many choose to live in fear and despair. For some it's more comfortable. There's nothing you can do to change that. It's a personal choice.
At some point it stops being genuine fear and is full blown hype. LIke how people get excited before a hurricane or a blizzard. Add that to the virtual signaling and wanting to keep working from home and you've got a great drug.