First off, last I heard, about four days ago, SARS has killed over 50, not ten. Second, the reason this is getting so much media attention is not based on how many it kills, because of the fact that it came outta nowhere, is highly contagious and no one is sure how to treat it. Even AIDS and hemorrhagic fever have treatments. And hemorrhagic fever (Like ebola) have a mortality of something like 60%. Which is huge.
Anyway, it's new and noteworthy and the media doesn't seem to be too concerned about starting a panic, so they report the worst of it. Remember that people in Asia are dying of this, too. Here in Canada, most people seem to be taking this calmly, but there is no such thing as being too prepared. People want to feel secure, so they outfit themselves with the surgical masks, even though those have been proven to be ineffective.
