I was not trying to make you out to be an "insensitive prick," and sincerely apologize that you took it that way. I took the oath too. And I am proud of and grateful for your daughter's service. I respect yours. But were she mine, and in an exposure zone for ebolo much less a mere SARS related virus, I would want the US government to be doing exactly what it is doing right now (ok maybe a stricter quarantine for ebola). Part of what makes this country relatively unique is that we go to great extremes to look after our own. And we are fortunate to have smart, experienced professionals handling the situation at our end. If you don't agree with that policy, fine. We'll simply disagree. But it is what we have done and will continue to do in such health emergencies.
I think we are also, unfortunately, a people that tend to get hysterical about this sort of thing (and no, I am not calling you hysterical - I said "we"). But in the last thirty years, we were all going to die from either SARS, or the Norovirus, or bird flu, or Nile fever, or ebola, etc, etc. The hyperventilation has only become worse through the internet, social media and the 24 hour news cycle. None of us are getting out of here alive no matter what we do. I suspect the most likely bug that will kill off quite a few of us will be a particularly virulent form of the flu. But who knows? What is clear is that China is finally taking fairly Draconian steps to get a handle on the spread within China. Western governments are taking prudent steps to protect their own citizens to include responsibly getting them out of the hot zone and under quarantined observation. And at the end of the day, we are talking about something with a relatively low death rate no matter how much the media and fear mongers want to spin it. And yes, it is a virus and could mutate into something more lethal, but I think it is at least equally likely that it will burn out as spring progresses or that a vaccine is rather quickly developed.
