I agree. The Chinese went hysterical when the outbreak was first noticed, and I heard a lot about it spontaneously when wishing people happy new year. Hysteria continued right up to the point where... everyone went back to work.
I think the government got unlucky that the outbreak coincided with a major holiday. And while shutting things down was a good idea in many ways, it also meant that people were stuck at home with nothing to do but freak out. So that's what everybody did.
There is another possibility that the situation is much, much worse and Chinese are just telling part of the truth. Look how spreading is much worse in Korea than what Chinese says happens in China.
They may not be simply compared like that, because of the different measures taken. China did shutdown the entire country basically, cities with millions of people won't allow anyone to come in / out, and almost all shops / stores shut down.
I think the government got unlucky that the outbreak coincided with a major holiday. And while shutting things down was a good idea in many ways, it also meant that people were stuck at home with nothing to do but freak out. So that's what everybody did.