Public policy and science basically can’t coexist on a facts only basis. In order to get action done the severity of the problem is embellished as it goes from scientists to government official. It’s kind of like those dietary studies that you read about on the tabloids. Some minor paper comes out saying that in x decreases heart attacks by a small amount in a study of 30 people and the headlines reads x will help you live forever. The point being in this pandemic the vast majority of communication about covid is “ends justify means” embellishments. Smart people understand how bad things could get and they overstate the actual facts to get others to act the way they think they should. It’s normal human nature and it occurs everywhere. Problem it’s really hard to back these embellishments out and figure out what the reality is.