Bats are important predators of insects we don't like (mosquitoes, crop pests, etc.) so exterminating all bats would not be a good idea.

Maybe exterminating fruit-eating bats wouldn't be as bad, but why not improve human hygiene practices instead?

> Maybe exterminating fruit-eating bats wouldn't be as bad

Maybe not as bad but still bad because they are pollinators and spread seeds. The article says:

> Bats provide many beneficial ecosystem services. Some bats play important roles such as plant pollination and seed dispersal. Bats can pollinate more than 500 species of plants including avocados, bananas, dates and mangoes.

> In Southeast Asia, durian, a highly valued crop, can be effectively pollinated only by the Dawn Bat. In this sense, bats are important economically for people. Some bats can also play critical roles in spreading seeds and regrowing forests.

Yeah that'll probably turn out as well as when the Chinese tried to kill off the sparrows leading to huge insect swarms. (Also Bats are also pollinators that you would've noticed if you'd read the article).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign

The virus really isn't that bad, we have faced vastly worse pandemics in history. The overreaction has been horrendous.

(In the UK which is one of the worst hit countries the death toll is about the same as 2003. https://oronu.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/mortality-statistics/)