I think there are several reasons, but one big one might be that the coronavirus has a relatively quick physiological impact on the person, where the virus can spread to others.
Yep, we're still apes, with ape brains. If it goes boom and kills a lot of people we're scared (nuclear, viruses). If it kills more but is spread over centuries we don't care nearly as much (global warming, air pollution, water pollution, obesity epidemic)