Does anyone remember the TV Show Babylon 5? It was a sci-fi (non Star Trek) show in the 90's. There was one episode where a deadly plague was wipping out a species. This species was advanced and also religious. A doctor of their species tried to warn his people that they needed to separate themselves and work with other species so they would have time for a cure. Instead the religious leaders of the species said that the plague was because of the sinful corruption of exposure to other species and what they needed to do was to isolate themselves from aliens and gather for communal prayer. What happened was the disease got transmitted even faster and the doctor died just as he and alien medical experts were about to find a cure. At the end of the episode the whole species was gone.
I have heard more than once in Sunday school about how early Christians stuck around to care for the sick in the Plague of Cyprian and thereby sacrificed their own lives for pagans (and grew the church in the process). It would not surprise me to hear it cited to justify scoffing at stay at home orders. I can imagine evangelicals feel the swell of pride to emulate their ancient forebears. To do so, however, you have to still be thinking of your exposure only as a personal risk and ignore the fact that you'd also be infecting others -- which the tweet in the OP seems to do. Probably our understanding of the Plague of Cyprian should be informed by COVID-19 instead of the other way around. The early Christians probably exacerbated the plague by exposing themselves and then infecting others.
That dude looks familiar! Wait...has he changed his appearance! Did he wear protective lens at one point?
Yes. I vaguely remember because John got lucky after the tragic events of that episode. Spoiler IIRC, that species also held an annual "purge w/o it being called a purge" and killed each other over colored sashes. Pretty damn accurate sci-fi... Might say coping is the only way we're all going to get through this.
