Denial - or is that being confused with a critical review of the facts?
Many who are discounting the potential of SARS are ignoring the fact that information spreads so much faster today than any illness possibly can. This was not true just a short decade ago.
Does anyone know how long previous epidemics swirled around in relatively isolated pockets before becoming national or worldwide threats? I doubt it. The SARS stats currently being reported may seem too little to be of great importance, but early numbers in previous epidemics probably would have appeared insignificant also, if instant international publication had been possible back then.