Modern epidemics and pandemics are almost ALWAYS overestimated by those predicting them. In part, this is because those predicting them often have a vested interest in making them sound a scarier than they actually are.
I'm no apologist for doom-sayers, but there's also the case for not wanting to lull people into a false sense of security. In 2006 the flu looked like high transmissibility AND high mortality. I never get the flu, and I hadn't gotten the vaccine for decades, but that year I did get a shot. The US government gave out lots of warnings. The season wasn't nearly as bad as warnings said. Were the warnings justified? As a precaution, I think so.
Close. The most important lessons I've learned is three fundamental truths in life. Everything else being immaterial nuance.
2. The world is governed by the aggressive use of force. Rush Limbaugh's rule #6
Obama's and Rahm Emmanuel's rule #1.
Look up "Seven deadly sins" and locate "Greed"
Look up "Seven deadly sins" and locate "Envy"
Most of the time, they provoke, prod, cajoule, and taunt these people until one of them out of the dozen, hundred, or thousand there snaps, then they point and say "See! See! We're justified"
Let's be totally honest. The "peaceful" "protesters" are doing the exact same thing.
"Time is money and money can't buy you love and I love your outfit" - T.H.U.N.D.E.R. #1