The issue is not that people are believing the messaging they hear - almost everybody had to rely on that. The issue is what sources are you getting your messaging from? Are you listening to Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx and Dr. Redfield, or are you listening to President Trump? Are you paying attention to infectious disease experts, or are you getting your messaging from the “my freedom, government tyranny” folks?
Where are the folks saying, “It’s just a flu,” and “If your worried, don’t come out,” getting their ideas?
You seem to be ignoring why that initial plan didn’t work - the lack of full implementation and the lack of federal coordination and the active undercutting of the plan by the highest government officials, the politicians in charge.
Regardless, we are here now, so figuring out the forward strategy is more important than lamenting the past. But we do need to understand the causes of the failure, because they are still around to sabotage any new forward plan.
The shut down was supposed to be short lived, predicated on assumptions like high levels of compliance, widespread testing, and following sensible guidelines on reopening. We did get reasonably high levels of compliance at first, at least in the highest hit areas, but not the testing to the levels required, and which state or municipality has actually followed the reopening guidelines about at least 14 days per phase with definite reductions in cases and hospitalizations before advancing to the next phase?
And partly because covid19 is not just a simple respiratory disease - it has systemic effects like blood clotting issues that make the standard medical procedures less effective.
Getting through what faster? The shut down, or the entire pandemic? Those aren’t the same question.