I think you're seeing comedy where there wasn't any intended. Boats to wait out the storm are a far more realistic way to survive events of this kind than spaceships would be. We simply don't have the capacity to move large numbers of people off planet and settle them elsewhere.

Dye Tom Cruise's hair black and make it a prequel. Always seemed an odd choice to have him be grey haired in the film, finally it makes sense.

I'm sketchy on the details, but as I recall they were unsure how it even transmitted at the time. Wasn't there some genuine concern that people putting their hands to their face and adjusting masks could actually elevate risk if the virus was transmitted on surfaces?