This is the fun of false equivalency.

OP has successfully stumbled upon evo psych. Of course humans pay attention to immediate threats. If we as a species hadn't we wouldn't get to an age to reproduce. So new and rapid threats take our attention. (Just wow at OP wrt suggesting western movies as part of this. Yes I'm sure there's a thesis in there somewhere thesedays)

So what.

Well there are some reasonable observations in OPs post, but, and wait for It, you can do both.

Both are threats of different sorts, we want and need to survive right now. So 2019-nCoV is a present threat to deal with.

We do fail as humans with limited lifespans to understand extra long consequence of action. But really most people know this (climate change) and it's a political issue at this point. And surprise surprise, there's too much money, jobs, (i.e. keys to power), for the state to do much of meaning. Some people are doing what they can. More requires further state intervention. Which they will when it threatens productivity in the next 2 years.