Despite all the kerfuffle there were massive mobilizations of people and resources still, and that was even in the face of a silent killer, one that didn't trig

Despite all the kerfuffle there were massive mobilizations of people and resources still, and that was even in the face of a silent killer, one that didn't trigger apocalyptic feelings in a critical mass of people as much as, say, widespread EMP attacks from nuclear explosions in orbit that affect every piece of electronics we've come to rely on, or a horrendous chemical spill that changes the atmosphere's chemistry. The latter are much more immediate and appeal to deeper instincts as regards risk assessment than an invisible microbe that only infects a few species of mammal.