I think it is the opposite. As someone accused me of doing, they believed the media reports that this was not going to hit them. Even up to the moment this thing changed course, it was being reported that it would hit Tampa.
The area hit was under a hurricane warning for 24 hours and a hurricane watch for 36 hours, and neither was ever lifted.
The intention of NHC is everyone in a watch or warning preapare as if they will be hit directly by a hurricane, and those areas are selected based on NHC KNOWING how inaccurate they have been on track in the past. However, the interpretation of that by the media and emergency management is the problem.