The thing that's got me effed-up is, everyone's talking about a 50% mortality rate. That's not an illness, that's more like a natural bioweapon.
I suspect that it will not have the 50% mortality, and I doubt it does now. Remember, many who get the flu don't go to the doctor they just plow through it, so there are cases that haven't caused death and were not reported.
That being said, for a 50% mortality rate on reported cases suggests a very high mortality on overall cases. The 1918 was under 5%, and caused world wide panic. Once the hospitals get tapped out, if we are looking at something like that it will be devastating.