Like trying to create an atmosphere where it appears not that many people have been personally effected by something. And, indeed, that is a valid way to look at things.
I want to single this out for a minute and come back to the rest. A lot of us Americans, if not most, know the seriousness of the COVID. I don't know if that's what you "see" from outsider in perspective. On an individual level, we do take things very seriously. From a media and political level (generalizing the American public) not so much.
Our lack or minimal personal experiences with COVID doesn't exclude we don't care any more or less than someone who has died or ill from the disease. America is such a big place that if a group of people died from AIDs there are but so much we put our feelings into it as strangers without knowing the details of those deceased people's condition(s).
We don't need to be personally affected (the same way, the same intensity etc) as some one else beside us to have some sort of care for others (not superficial). In many states, people are so spread out that we basically live in our own little towns, communities, families, etc and go by (like the rest of the world) what we see on television.
It does help to be critical on what you see and hear on t.v. whether it be about the US (which gets a lot of negativity from foreigners alike) to anything else really. Our personal experiences shouldn't keep us from being somewhat critical and skeptical of the news we hear and what we accept and don't accept as true.
Even more so, look down at the people who draw different conclusions on the same data as the person beside him or her.
