“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared in his First Inaugural Address, “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Is our current moment another 1933?

In one respect, the answer is clearly yes: Fear is pervasive. In the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, 73% of registered voters are worried—33% very worried—that they or someone in their immediate family might contract Covid-19. And the fear has spread rapidly: As recently as a month ago, only 43% said they were worried—15% very worried—about the disease.

In another respect, the answer is clearly no: The fear is anything but “nameless.” The novel coronavirus is killing large numbers of people around the globe, especially the elderly and those with a range of pre-existing conditions. Everyone knows that there is no vaccine to protect against the disease and little effective treatment for those who fall severely ill.

Some blame elected officials and the media for what they regard as a politically motivated campaign to hype Covid-19 and undermine President Trump. But the evidence suggests that most Americans are guided by their own experience. In the April 19 NBC/WSJ survey, 40% reported that they “personally know” someone who has contracted Covid-19, up from 27% just 10 days earlier. And when asked if they or people in their household have “asthma, cancer, chronic lung disease, diabetes, heart disease or . . . a weakened immune system,” 57% said yes.