The more individual sources of this around the world, the greater the odds that it ends up as a wildfire pandemic, hitting most of the world at once, instead of spreading out over the course of nearly two years...

Maybe this will be a dud, I hope so, but right now it is turning into something we have never seen before.

Let's hope it is benign.

But let's also be watchful and not bury our heads in the sands of hope or fear, as this OP is suggesting.

We can face what comes, but only if we face our fears and risk ourselves to the knowledge that fate may call on any of us at any time.