My God, I have to agree with you. The hysteria! This reminds me of all the other diseases that sent freepers into orbit over the last 20 years.
Yes, bird flu, HIN1, SARS … all went nowhere.
I think that is the greater threat. The boy-who-cried-wolf syndrome. Every other year for the past generation we have been warned of an extinction level virus. One day we are going to have a real threat, but people won’t take it seriously.