Question: This is a bunch of bullshit, right? I mean, thirty thousand people die each year from regular old flu. What's this, a few hundred? In Mexico! You are panicy asshole for even bringing this up.

Answer: I find this to be one of the more foolish salves people are currently trotting out. Yes, a regular year's influenza kills about thirty thousand people—mostly older or ill people ready to die from just about anything. It's like saying "people die of old age all the time. What's the deal with this death thing?"

This flu seems to be unusually severe (at least in pockets) for people in their twenties and thirties, thanks to an overreaction by the immune system. It's not the number of deaths—and this is probably only getting started as far as the number of infected people—it's the age and overall health of those sickened and dying.

Question: Holy shit! So we're all going to die!

Answer: Nope. Even at worst, only a small percentage of people infected die. It's just more deadly for young and healthy people than a typical flu. In fact, we have no clue if or how severe the eventual illness will be.

For a "we're all going to die" scenario, you need to have something like Small Pox.

Question: Well, why are they starting to close schools then?

Answer: Because kids are second only to mosquitoes as vectors for disease transmission. The three cases in Seattle basically form the public health pieta of pandemics: a school aged kid, a parent aged adult and a primary care doctor.

The goal here is to slow the spread of the illness, so that the health care system doesn't get overwhelmed. This is why influenza tends to outbreak (among other factors) when school is in session. Close schools, and you slow the spread.

Question: Well, what should I do?

Answer: Have enough food, books, movies and other stuff that you can sit at home for a few days, if all public gatherings are prohibited. (This is a big if. It probably won't happen. Why not be prepared. If you live on a fault line, you should have this for an earthquake anyways.)

Wash your hands like a crazy person. When you come home, before you eat, or before you touch your face, a good handwashing that takes a minute or so, with soap and water.

Indoors, in confined spaces, try to keep about three feet away from other people. Sit every other seat in theaters, auditoriums, buses or conference rooms.

And don't panic.