I am not hysterical about this. The older I get, the less alarmist I become. I can live with the possibility of a nuclear blast disintegrating me, for instance; should it happen it would be a quick way to do something I will eventually do one way or another. Surviving, however briefly, such an event and being with other people that I could not help would definitely not be the death I chose. I would rather be in the first rank.
However, having an inexorable sickness slide around the world and across my community would also not be the way I choose to go. Even if I myself survived. Having 10,000-15,000 people die n my town of 30,000? Nah. A city like New York? Dead bodies in apartment houses and hospitals and mansions and homeless shelters? Nah.
Is it hysteria to be visualizing that possibility? Nah. True, it may never happen. Bully. But the time to think of it is NOW. And if the NOW is 15 years from today and I have not yet thought about it - or needed to - Bully.