I know what you mean dementedma! I think there's some worry about the very high numbers resulting in hospitalisations in a couple of weeks, even if it is a milder variant, with less likelihood of hospitalisation per infection - NSs "simple arithmetic" argument 
(though at present I don't think our numbers per 100,000 are yet at the level of the Aug/Sept spike which didn't make our hospitals collapse even with the vicious, deadly delta version 
).
But more of a worry, as rookie says is if the numbers do go up loads, and everyone catching it has to isolate for 10 days, along with their household in Scotland, that could quickly take out a lot of hospital staff/ care staff/ police and other emergency services/ lorry drivers/ utility people/ teachers etc etc, which could cause big problems with keeping society running. In Aug/Sept it was pretty much just a Scotland spike, so help was brought in from the rest of the UK, but if the whole country is affected we won't be so lucky. Of course, some people physically couldn't work while ill, but many (especially contacts) could work, but aren't allowed to if they can't do it from home. So the "cure" of isolation is causing a lot of the problem.
Also, the general mood is one of panic... not helped by all the messaging and speculation and "not-optional guidance" ... so even those of us who aren't especially worried about the virus itself, are pretty spooked and making weird and not necessarily logical decisions.