> headlines screaming apocalypse. Same bat country, same fear cycle

From the article "deaths reported at 177, and around 1,400 contacts now being traced". People are dying on the planet we all belong to.

There is a certain mindset that looks at any series of a problem that didn't get worse as evidence that any reaction to it was unwarranted, without considering if it was the why behind the lack of catastrophe. The opposite failure modes are things like security theatre and reasoning from any remotely plausible hypothetical to any desired response, and it's continually frustrating to see people who see neither modes or have a pet peeve against one of them and so jump in the other direction rather than reflect a second on some middle path.