Isn't this a natural result of how empathy works?

You can both feel the urge from your own brain, and far more comprehensively understand the consequences, of not doing a thing (employment, meeting a long term partner, friend, ...).

By contrast when you see a person on the street it's easy to think "rules say no hence bad".

As others state, you're also wired to think of the novel/interesting case and ignore the people holed up at home because they're invisible.