Your downplaying of the significance of this virus is a mistake. It isn't the media that has caused every government on earth to take strong measures to contain the virus - it is the nature of the virus. When a virus significantly raises the total mortality rate of populations, it is hardly insignificant. When it become a leading cause of death (#2 or #3 in the US last year), it is hardly insignificant.

It wasn't media hype that caused two of my friends (one an MD) to die of this virus, it is a deadly virus that did so.

Yes, the nature of the virus suggests it was not engineered as a bioweapon. But in spite of the authors argument, few are arguing that it was engineered.