I do not think I have ever witnessed a reaction so extreme to a disease that is comparably mild (I understand that the elderly and immunocompromised are at high

I do not think I have ever witnessed a reaction so extreme to a disease that is comparably mild (I understand that the elderly and immunocompromised are at higher risk, I am referring to young, able-bodied people). This applies to Germany as well as the US. I notice the effect it has on co-workers who tend to follow social media and are constantly panicking. Constantly discussing rumours from Twitter and even staying home because they are too afraid to leave the house. The unchecked spreading of news definitely seems to have an impact on the population's behaviour and I find it somewhat concerning to observe how easy it is to push people into a frenzy. Maybe the perspective is also a bit skewed because people that post online often tend towards the paranoid and fearful type (somewhat of a conjecture), so there might be a self-perpetuating bias. Users that are not concerned do not bother to post so everyone just reads panicky posts.