It was a mix of obliviousness, not wanting to offend Chinese people (I remember going to the r/wuhan_flu sub everyday until it was quarantined lol) and just utter disbelief that something big like that could happen, like Normalcy Bias.

Needless to say I was a bit flabbergasted that everyone there was basically just waiting for the news (and W.H.O.) to tell them what to do, and they call themselves scientists.