Imagine murder hornets were spreading across the U.S.

Imagine murder hornets had stung several million of people.

Imagine a million murder hornet victims had been hospitalized.

Imagine 123,000 Americans had died of murder hornet stings – so far.

Imagine it wasn't stopping.
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Imagine that the murder hornet attacks were still happening. Imagine Texas had 5,000 murder hornet attacks just yesterday.

Imagine the number of attacks briefly declined bec. everyone hid inside, but while we hid, murder hornets kept buzzing around outside our windows.
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Now imagine that everyone hiding was bad for the economy, so the president and many governors urged everyone to go back outside – as the murder hornets kept buzzing around unabated.

Imagine they wanted to re-open schools and playgrounds, despite the active murder hornets.
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Imagine people refusing to wear beekeepers' veils or other gear that protects against murder hornets, because: freedom!

Imagine people claiming that beekeepers' veils "trapped CO2" and were more dangerous than murder hornet stings.
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Now imagine people proclaiming that they personally aren't afraid of murder hornets (because they believe they're immune, or that God will protect them, or that murder hornets aren't any more dangerous than bumblebees) –
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(which, ok, fine, it's your life) –

– except now imagine that the people who don't believe in murder hornets start refusing to close windows or doors.
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Imagine murder hornet denialists open the windows of stores where you're shopping + bring murder hornets into elevators with you, bec. THEY don't believe murder hornets are dangerous, so YOU shouldn't, either!

Imagine exposing other people to murder hornets wasn't a crime.
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Imagine there was a way to track where the murder hornets were spreading so people could take precautions, but the president ordered it slowed down because he didn't want voters to know how bad the murder hornet problem was.
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Humans evolved to respond to TANGIBLE threats. It's hard for us to know how to respond appropriately to coronavirus, bec. viruses are invisible, and their action is delayed.

But if we replace "coronavirus" with "murder hornets," our situation becomes much more clear.
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