The fear mongering nearly killed my grandmother as well. She fell while disinfecting her stair bannister. She lives alone, normally never goes up the stairs and wasn't having guests anyways. She had no business cleaning her bannister but was convinced by the TV that it was necessary.
The worst part about the constant media barrage, I could link people sources and they'd discount them as not being credible. So then I'd link primary sources...and they'd counter that they don't have time to read all that.