This is not fear mongering, but assessment of something that has the potential to cause a worldwide pandemic. Would you rather the public health officials sit back and do nothing? Or would you rather have the proper precautions done and head this off before a pandemic occurs?
One reason for doing articles like this is to inform the public so that they know what to do, both to help prevent the virus from becoming a pandemic, and to decrease number of cases should it reach that point.
Characteristics of a pandemic capable virus:
1) It spreads easily, through respiratory means. (Ebola, being a bloodborne pathogen, does not have pandemic capability.)
2) Its death rate is just high enough (2%) to cause massive deaths, but is not high enough to inhibit its spread. (Viruses like Ebola, with 30-40% or higher death rates kill off their victims before they have a chance to infect very many other people.)
3) It survives prolonged periods on surfaces and, according to some reports, is contagious before symptoms appear.
Pandemics that cause massive death occur about every 100 years. On a historical basis, we are due for one. This coronavirus has many of the characteristic hallmarks of a pandemic virus. So, yes, the public health officials are rightly concerned.
Agreed. What I’ve been saying is that while it makes no sense to go around with one’s hair on fire about this, dismissive complacency (i.e. Normalcy Bias) is rather foolish (and dangerous).