The trouble with Covid is that on a macro level it is a minor risk, but on a micro level it is a major risk. If you're in a vulnerable group, Covid can be very very nasty and there's a not insignificant risk of a grisly death. It is not just flu.
Most people I know are not worried about catching Covid themselves, but are very very worried about the consequences of inadvertently passing it to a vulnerable person that they love. This is not an unreasonable fear and, crucially, it is not a small risk either. 24 people have died here on the island from Covid; crucially, 20 of them were from the same care home in Ballasalla. That care home had about 55 residents. 20 deaths from 55 people shows the risk for people in care homes.
Most of us have loved ones in elderly care. My mother in law and my grandmother are both in care homes (although my grandmother's dementia is now so far gone I don't think she'd notice Covid, she didn't even seem to notice her foot dropping off after she contracted necrotizing fasciitis).
I know five people who have had Covid in the UK. Four of them saw nothing more serious than feeling rotten for a week. The fifth, however, has been moderately (and, to be fair, only moderately) ill since the first week of March with no sign of improvement. But the potential consequences of catching Covid for my mother-in-law, who is 81 and lives in a care home, is a whole different kettle of fish.
FWIW I think many of the mitigations put in place are OTT, and have done since day one- locking out 90% of seats on a train is, frankly, ludicrous. But the disparity between the risk for young people and the risk for older or vulnerable people is why people are frightened. It's not an unreasonable fear. Who, ultimately, wants to inadvertently kill their grandmother or mother-in-law by inadvertently giving them Covid?