About covid perception vs reality, even with misinformation it comes down more to the fact general population just don't understand enough about maths
If 10% of the population in your country have already died, it means around 1 out of 10 people you know should be dead. It would be a chaos, we are talking about familiares, close friends, etc, etc. Society would have collapsed already
So far I know 3 people who died from covid, I have no idea how many people I know in total though, guess more than 1000?