wiggy, if you look at it I am not 'blaming' anyone, I am recognising a situation. We know a lot of people in everyday life who have been really 'shook up' by all of this. Just going to the shops is a struggle for them. PilotLZ has been quite right to call this PTSD as it has been very, very, very unsettling for a lot of people. But there are a lot of people who want to fly and they shouldn't be put off by emotional scare stories. Going to the shops, going to restaurants, flying, all those things should be shown to be as normal and as safe as they really are. What is known about this 'thing' is hugely more now than it was in March. The extent of it in the population and its locations are all hugely more known now than in March (the UK, with nearly 13.8 million test, is the leading country in the world with a population over 10 million in testing, which is hugely better than in March). A huge amount more is know about treatments that was in March. Precautions taken now are hugely more than in March. I am not blaming anyone, as so little was known about it in March.
The problem was that the population was scared, as they never have been before, very often by unhelpful media sensationalist reporting where good news was ignored in favour of the sensational. We have been really, really surprised at the huge number of people that we have encountered from all walks of life who have just shut off from the media. I don't blame them. I did too for quite some time and life became more 'local' and pleasant (we have supported our local newspaper throughout). The problem now is that trying to get good news through to people who have cut off from news won't be easy. A lot of people have been locked away from the world and haven't seen how bad it got out there (and in many cases, probably a good thing for them that they didn't see it!) but their minds have been 'whirring'. People need to be encouraged back into 'the world' with good news.
I will repeat what I said at "silly o' clock" this morning: "...tonight I heard the most traffic on the radio that I had heard for months. From a good mix of passenger airlines. Almost felt like normal again." And add to that LGW Vulture's comments. Time for some more positive thinking: the glass is half full, let's work on encouraging people to fill it up more!