I saw people on social media saying "wow this looks really bad" and had to put a fair amount of effort into finding stories on Apple News (where I usually read news stories) giving a rundown. Social media can certainly be prone to Chicken Little-ism but nobody seems to be questioning the line officials are giving here. If anything I think this might be a sign of how weak local news reporting has become. No doubt this would be of interest if it happened in the vicinity of New York City or Los Angeles.