When Hooper was standing there having an argument about the bite radius on the shark and how he felt they did not catch the shark that killed Alex, there were dozens of people standing around who must have heard. Surely that would have spread like wildfire around the island. I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that nobody seemed to be comfortable going into the water at first.
shareYou choose that scene as your gripe with the movie? Good God! What a dolt
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People believe what they want to believe.
No doubt, even before Hooper said it out loud, some Amity natives were already skeptical that "these bozos got the exact shark," to quote Hooper. Quint certainly found it laughable.
But people wanted to believe the threat was over, that business could proceed and that, in Mayor Larry's words, "we can start breathing again."
They needed to believe it. So anyone who didn't want to believe otherwise would ignore Hooper and not pass his words along.
But enough people were at least skeptical, which is why Mayor Larry had to force his friends into the water.