For people, the difference between 2% and 0.2% mortality is huge, but for the virus (and the evolutionary pressures on it), the difference between 98% and 99.8%

For people, the difference between 2% and 0.2% mortality is huge, but for the virus (and the evolutionary pressures on it), the difference between 98% and 99.8% chance of continuing to spread is insignificant; any minor changes in the rate of spread far outweigh that. The evolutionary pressure towards survival of the host matter only for diseases with very high lethality.