Ban eating bats and snakes also, which are more likely to be the source of the virus.
If they didn't eat cats, cats could have killed the mice and rats that are related to bats and there would be less of the chance of a virus to spread. During the Black Plague, people were superstitious and thought black cats were bad and maybe a cause of the plague but the cats should have been left to fulfill their role in nature by controlling the population of dirty rodents that transmit germs.