That's right. The reason why these various countries have declared public health emergencies is because of an abundance of caution to PREVENT an actual pandemic from happening. And the reason an actual pandemic is POSSIBLE and thus needs to be prevented is because of the virus's ability to transmit from human to human. Duh, I don't really see the disagreement there. If this virus was still only at the stage of animal to human transmission or human to immediate caregiver transmission, we'd still be at Level 2 or 3 and probably wouldn't even be discussing this.
But where we still seem to disagree is where just because its now been OFFICIALLY determined it can spread more easily between humans (as had been expected even before that announcement) still doesn't mean that it is INEVITABLE that it will progress to Regional Pandemic (Level 5) or Global Pandemic (Level 6). And I'm betting that most disease experts would tell you that making such predictions EITHER way with something like the flu is really impossible to do. But maybe you'll get "lucky" and, by chance, it will turn out like you expect.
For it to go to Level 5 there will have to be human to human transmission in more than one country within a region. It is already a “community-level outbreak†in Mexico, but there are no reasons to DEFINITIVELY predict that will happen in another country in the region like the US. As of now, the latest update at the CDC website has 40 diagnosed cases in the US. I heard that there were 3 more diagnosed today in TX and I'm sure that number will go up, but for now and the foreseeable future it is still really small. More significantly, to the best of my knowledge, ALL of those cases were of people who had contracted it during trips to Mexico. As far as I know, NONE have been transmitted human-to-human WITHIN the US. And that would be the critical step to happen, either here or in some country in this region (other than Mexico), for it to go to Level 5.
I'm NOT saying that definitely WON'T happen, but I think there are a number of reasons to be hopeful that it won't, at least not in any really significant numbers. In fact, I think there are several factors making it much LESS likely that it will spread here like it has in Mexico:
1) First of all, unlike with Mexico, we've all been made well aware of the danger BEFORE it has become widespread here. In Mexico, a potential carrier could be anyone in your neighborhood. In the US, any one who has been in Mexico recently and is experiencing any flu-like symptoms is going to be on heightened alert for it and likely will go to AND be able to go into a medical facility where they can get it checked and treated early, BEFORE they've had as much chance to spread it to anyone else. In Mexico, so many people are having symptoms or are fearful of it that the already weak medical system is being overloaded and people are actually being turned away from the hospitals.
2) Now that we're alert to the threat, we'll all be much more careful not to catch it, first of all by NOT going to Mexico, and as the extent of the threat is more evident by avoiding crowds, washing hands more regularly, covering our mouths when we cough, and possibly wearing masks if it really gets that bad and it comes to that. In Mexico, it came to that before the public was even aware that a new more dangerous swine flu was even out there.
3) The relatively few cases in the US are MUCH less severe than the cases in Mexico. In Mexico, most of the so far diagnosed cases are in ICU (while many suspected cases are left untested walking the streets and possibly spreading the disease to others). In the US, only 1 of the diagnosed cases have even needed to be admitted to a hospital. In Mexico, the doctor quoted by you earlier said "that anti-viral treatments and vaccines are not expected to have any effect, even at high doses." With the cases in the US, the CDC website says "Laboratory testing has found the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir." (Tamiflu & Relenza)
4) I don't know what type of medicine that Mexican doctor was talking about or had available to him, but it may not of been the right ones and even if they were he probably wouldn't have had enough to treat all the people he needed to. From what I understand, the US has a 50 million dose supply of Tamiflu (and, btw, would have had even more if it hadn't been cut out of the stimulus bill by the Repubs). Selective use of that supply only on people who are known to have some form of flu and for caregivers should be more than enough to cover all but the worst possible outbreak of these disease. In fact, there is a debate of whether we should release some of that plentiful supply to help our neighbors across the border.
5) We have a much better public health care system than Mexico, better sanitation, etc. Diseases like this spread more readily in developing countries like Haiti (HIV), Vietnam (Avian Flu) and Mexico than it does in countries like the US with greater resources to fight it and stamp it out before it becomes a large community threat.
Some other important things to realize. This is not the first time swine flu has presented a pandemic threat. The last time was in 1976. By the time it passed, over 400 people had died in the US - one person from the disease itself and all the rest from complications from the vaccine that was administered in response to it. For all of our current government's faults I still have faith that they have learned a lot from the past (and Homeland Security simulations and training relating to disease outbreaks) and should do better than that this time around.
Four hundred deaths from this round of swine flu would still be bad but compare that to the 35,000 deaths we have each year from the regular and much more widespread flu. What about MDR-TB, XDR-TB or UDR-TB? Look how quickly the threats of those much more widespread, deadly and even less easily treatable diseases faded from the headlines after they were all the rage 2 summers ago when Andrew Speaker boarded a plane with one of those forms of TB. Estimates are that there are still 40,000 people infected annually with XDR-TB, and there are as many as 50 million existing cases worldwide. In 2003, there were similar concerns that SARS, a form of atypical pneumonia, would become a global pandemic since it was even more highly contagious than this swine flu we're talking about now. Concerted action by world health organizations successfully averted that, but the disease has not been totally eradicated and there is still the possibility that it could mutate and re-emerge as a global threat. The last example that I'll give is the Avian Flu which first emerged in Vietnam in 2004(?). That has been and still is at this Level 4. In fact, the CDC webpage on that pandemic threat provides a good explanation of all the different threat levels:
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/phase/en/index.html
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I dunno, I have left pecker tracks in several countries, that and being a Plumbing Contractor, I think it would take a bus to take me out 
can mess up a dudes agenda down there!
