I agree with you on your last post, JaredM
The reason why I joined the conversation is because of a tendency that I see happening a lot, and which is not helping fighting the pandemic:
When I get confused on what information to trust I look further away, I look up the most trustworthy sources (there is a selection of quality newspapers that already go a long way) and find my answers, I admit that my scientific background helps sifting the good from the crap.
But what many others do when they get confused what information to trust, they start looking closer and closer to home, trusting only people they know personally, and their stories. I think the reason for this behaviour is ancient human biology doing its thing (I’m a biologist btw), which at one time for many problems was a very adequate response, but in todays complex global world those reflexes are rather unhelpful to solve our problems.
My brute statistical logic tells me that close friends and relatives (and the random person on social media who acts personal) probably are not the experts with the right answer if difficult problems need solving, and professionals (scientists, docters, yes even governmental organisations) further away are the ones to listen to, not because they are always right, but they are way more likely to be right.