Monkey Corvid

Everyone wants to freak out about the "novel" virus because Taking it Seriously shows they're Serious People who are very Serious. They don't get nearly enough opportunities to signal solemnity and appreciating significance.
When shit hits the fan you want to be surrounded by Serious People, right? Class clowns, not so much.
If the virus isn't Serious it will make them look bad. Everyone will agree to ignore that truth to avoid having to admit they're fundamentally ridiculous.

Cognitive dissonance has diminishing returns. All other senses work on logarithms, and this one probably does too. The first little bit seriously affects quality of life. If you already have a dumptruck full of cognitive dissonance, a little bit more is hardly noticeable. The fact Serious People get dunked on by Reality, Every Single Time, causes significant cognitive dissonance, but they already think global warming is real and so on. The marginal effect is small.

The only thing serious about Americans is how seriously clownish they are.