In a mass hysteria, people reinforce and escalate extreme ideas with each other. The fear increases and otherwise intelligent people cease to be able to think rationally. At that point anyone who questions the extreme position is attacked as a heretic. Any doubt creates anger.
As the extreme predictions fail, the True Believers move from anger to despondency. Rationalizations of the failed prophecy soon follow. Of course, they never consider that they were wrong. It is that their prediction *would* have happened, but their true faith saved the day.
And the doomsday prophets just move on to a new end of the world scenario and a new date. For example, if the world does not end on the day predicted, it just means God has shown us grace. But the end is coming on the new date.
We also see this with secular doomsday scenarios such as Climate Change. If the world does not end in 12 years, it will not mean the experts were wrong. It just means that our efforts saved the day but much more money is needed or else we will be doomed on a new date.
This virus doomsday scenario (2.1 MILLION AMERICANS WILL DIE!!!!) is similar but the timeline was accelerated. Models were taken as fact. People that had doubts were angrily attacked as being evil people. And when the predictions failed, True Believers made rationalizations.
