I recall that twenty to thirty years ago everyone was chattering about how AIDS was going to kill us all. Now there seems to be very little concern about Ebola, people keep parroting the official line, “Nothing to worry about.”
I never for one minute thought that AIDS was going to kill everyone.
The book OUTBREAK explains it pretty well. In order for a disease to spread, it has to be less efficient at killing off people. Ebola taking up to 21 days for symptoms to show does make its spreading more problematic. But if it spreads in the US, I'd think it will be a less deadly disease, and mostly avoidable by not getting in harms way any more than necessary.
What I worry about is if the gov gets more concerned about reassuring the public and because of that taking risks. I'd also be concerned about Halloween this year....kids (young and old) sharing stuff and being in close contact party mode.