If it hits hard in my area I wonder if the fact everybody except me in my region gets the flu yearly will help or harm me.
Yea, another epidemic is bound to happen eventually; it seems to happen every few decades or so. The last one we had was in the 60's, the one before that was in the 20's (or was it early 30's? I know WWI helped spread it, I'm just terrible with dates). So, technically we're a bit overdue.
I doubt the government will do much of anything here in the States. As it stands they're basically telling people to do the obvious such as washing hands and not panic without even quarantining except in some airports or boosting the boarder security to prevent illegal entry. Seeing Mexico is a neighboring country and the chances of spreading are higher here than elsewhere they would boost quarantining and such like Japan and other Asian countries are.
The media usually emphases some things; but they will report things that aren't only partially true if they believe it's something people would want to hear.
By the way; what I've heard is two in California have died. It's not official yet however.