There is a lot of comparison to influenza out there. I did it myself, and I am tracking it using flu stats. (I worked in this field in a hospital and I am a data nerd.)
The problem is that this is NOT the flu. The only thing they have in common is that they are viruses. That is akin to saying a Ford Mustang and a Yugo are similar—they are both cars.
I think that you are correct in keeping it in perspective. My ONLY reason for keeping an eye on this is the “actions” that the Chinese are taking to prevent the spread. They ARE unprecedented moves impacting millions of people. And based on their history of not reporting accurate numbers for anything, I am skeptical.
So yes, there is no need to panic. Yes, you should be taking flu precautions—as you should every flu seasons. No, you should probably not be buying face masks off of ebay.
And ...any suggestions of World War Z are premature. There have no confirmed cases of the dead reanimating. LOL.
The recovered reanimate into the infected. You can check out, but you can never leave.