COVID 19: Were the Authorities making people panic?

Not sure where you live but I haven't sensed any panic. If people choose to do that then that's on them. All I've seen are legitimate studies and thoughts from experts.

I think yes...they wanted us to take covid seriously and get vaxxed.

Not where I live.

I believe yes

Death and disease aren't reasons to panic?

Pretty much. Even though it's mostly over, states like New York and California are still pretty freaked out about dining in restaurants.

I'm not particularly surprised by this. The problem is crowds and gathering and proximity. The surface transmission stuff was overwrought.

This was not authorities making people panic, it was authorities trying to stop viral transmission and doing big dumb simple things to stop it and not adjusting as new information became available.