The government (or parts of it) appears to be trying to get EVERYONE scared.
Fear invokes the Limbic portion of the brain; the "Fight of Flight" response.
At that point, people are not operating rationally. In the grip of FEAR, people act to flee or fight, operating at best on emotions, not on logic nor rational consideration, and the stampeding herd is one which can be steered (no pun intended) in virtually any direction, including off a cliff.
American Indians used that same tactic against bison, some of the most wily and formidable of herd animals individually, but which could be panicked in a herd by fire or other means to go off cliffs in piles so deep the bottom ones rotted before they could be butchered and jerked (smoked).
Well, like it or not, most people are herd animals, too, and the same behaviour is evident even as people beg to have their Rights taken from them for the false reassurance of 'feeling' safe.