You want insites? OK, here is:

1) It's coming, it's a matter of when.
2) It will change between now and then, so the preperations we have now will probably be worth a bucket of cold spit when it happens.
3) We will know it is happening when it is happening, not before.

Oh, were we talking about a flu panademic? I thought we were talking about comet impacts. Or maybe the heat death of the universe.

Here it is in a nutshell: Unless you are a hermit, living totally alone, flamethrower any bird within 50 feet of you, and are 100% self sufficent for an indefinant period of time, you are at risk of catching this when it hits. Any contact with humans or birds will put you at risk, and if you are thinking of waiting until the Feds call it a panademic before you go into your plague shelter, you will be exposed, so go into hiding now. But if you have to come out of seclusion for any reason, you will run into someone with the virus after this theoretical panademic occures, and you won't have any antibodies in your system that can deal with it.

We talk about other items because we all know how to deal with getting sick and reducing the risk in the first place. You talk about the Spanish Flu of 1918- the vast majority of those who became ill survived. The weak, the young, and the old were at greater risk, as were those who's lungs were already screwed up, such as from mustard gas exposure.

I hate to sound like a jerk, but let's be blunt. There is no job that will keep you safe, except POSSIBLY long term alien abduction subject.