But in another sense, it is not a surprise, since the right has worked hard to get its base to
#1: ignore expert advice
#2: distrust the news media
#3: obtain alternative facts from the peddlers of alternative facts
I know it's fun to try to analyze the opposition and come to some fine conclusions about their psychology, but as a member of the right I'd like to make matters easier for you by telling you how I see it. It would appear to us that the left takes a perverse pleasure in finding ways to make us afraid of literally anything, even to the point of making temperate weather an object of horror. After so many years of being bombarded with dire predictions, followed by the catastrophic aftermath of...life as usual, we've come to the unmistakable conclusion that the left has no credibility. This is not simply a matter of respectful disagreement, but has become, instead, the stark feeling that half of the population makes a habit of lying and believing lies.
Our defense, as you say, is to
#1: ignore expert advice, because the only expert advice anyone gets to hear is selected by only one class of individuals, known as the news media, who make their living not by informing, but by giving people reasons to care about things that would otherwise be mundane and not worth listening to. If a thousand experts tell us not to worry, and two experts under the employ of the media tell us to run for cover, we will only hear the experts that present the most dire advice.
#2: distrust the news media, because, as previously mentioned, it makes its buck by giving us reasons to care, and because the media is largely dominated by the left, who seem to be in the habit of fearing everything.
#3: obtain alternative facts from the peddlers of alternative facts, because we must always consider the strong possibility that the popular rumor presented to us by the media is either a lie, or a half truth, or a lie mixed with truth. We cannot be blamed for looking elsewhere when the conventional source of information is known to be strongly compromised. The truth is, we have no reliable source of information, and we must consider a variety of sources skeptically.
As for me, I do not dismiss the danger of the virus. What I do dismiss is the fear. It takes courage to get up in the morning and go to work every day, knowing that I am steadily on my way to the grave, which is true with or without any virus. If I don't live like a craven coward, you might think me a fool, but perhaps the real foolishness is accepting fear and economic ruin in a futile attempt to stop the unstoppable.