The word of a pandemic would spread regardless of CDC. When Covid started there where rumors in Europe (Jan 2020) of people dropping dead on the streets in China. By February there where videos of tourists in China going around with masks because everybody else was. A word spreads faster than a virus.

Takes time. Spread the message. I joined Instagram in 2017 by pure FOMO. Let’s create FOMO for the Fediverse by speaking about it over and over.