This is within the living memory of people I knew growing up.
It was not a joking matter. I knew old men and women who would still shudder talking of it, when they talked. My grandfather talked of people dropping dead over night. He was a hard man, and did not flinch from much, but memories of that time would leave him quiet and haunted.
If something like this hits, you would see society shutting down. We were much more independent then, and being cut off for weeks was considered normal. Now people will riot if they lose wifi.
No kidding...the wife and I are going to accelerate our prepping actions this week; stockpile more food, water and fuel. We have a whole-house generator, powered by natural gas and the means to defend our home as well. If necessary, I can do my job by tele-commuting. My goal is to be able to hunker down for at least six weeks, or a bit longer.
Trust me, there are plenty of foreign governments (and terror groups) that are actively tracking the spread of Ebola and enterovirus across the U.S., and our refusal to take basic precautions. The current strain of enterovirus came into the country via the “illegal corridor” (I-35) and spread from there. Ebola is as close as the next international flight landing at any American airport.
Last week’s comments by General Kelly (SOUTHCOM/CC) should have been an alarm bell for anyone with a brain. Start an Ebola outbreak in central America and it will be (as he observed) “Katie bar the door.” Very easy to envision ISIS (or a hostile government) sending hundreds of human vectors across the border, with their arrival time for maximum transmission rates.