[Afton]

I don't think that's it at all. It's the 'normal' person being concerned whether they are at risk.

While lots of people 'know old people' or with pre-existing conditions, many people have youngish parent with already passed grandparents, who have trouble understanding why this is a fuss for them, since they imagine that it'll just be a cold (for them). Cases like this one are 'scary' because it shows that they might still be at risk. Which, in some sense, is good if it makes 'normal people' scared enough to actually stay home/self-quarantine.

I really don't think this has anything to do with the "US-centric mindset of blaming people for their own [snipped]".

[venantius]

I think they're related; healthy people often (implicitly) assume they are healthy because they have done nothing wrong to deserve being ill. This then causes them to act with unexamined cruelty towards people who are ill.

[viklove]

The implication of "it only affects people with a pre-existing condition, so it's not a big deal" is "it doesn't matter to me if people with pre-existing conditions die."

I'm 25, and at 23 I had my lung collapse (spontaneous pneumothorax) twice, due to nothing but random chance (according to my doctors). Does that mean it doesn't matter if I die from the coronavirus? Should we stop lockdowns and resume economic activity despite the dangers this virus presents to people like me?