Though it may seem otherwise for people who have lost family members, we (the world) has been pushing its luck. There have been cases of animal to human transmissions: Bird Flue, BSE which did not develop into human to human transmission, and outbreaks of infections with a poor prognosis being successfully contained: ebola and infections for which we have effective vaccines: seasonal flu. This time we had animal to human transmission which did develop to human to human of a novo virus which was not contained. Luckily only a minority of cases result in severe symptoms/death. It could have been far worse.

We should consider this our last warning. What humanity needs to do differently in the future is another question. I haven't a clue what the answer is, but if we don't, who knows what will come next?