http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/academic-departments/epidemiology/about-epi/new-chair-epidemiology

What Dr. Mason (Ph.D) is saying is old school regarding the virus. If you google him you'll see that he spends a lot of time with the media, not that that's a bad thing, well I guess it could be if it were Fox News but it looks like he is mostly on the left side of the media spectrum with his "expert" analysis so we'd have to label him a "thought leader" in the current environment. So I wouldn't hang too much on his expertise relative to others experts in infectious diseases.

What I am hearing from the Infectious Disease specialists at the Medical School (one of whom interestingly is from West Africa) where I work is that this is not your father's Ebola. They are concerned; worried, no. They think we can control localized outbreaks, like Texas. (Which if we make it to Halloween we can be sure we stopped it, so we aren't quite out of the woods yet.)

What really concerned them a few months ago is that this go round many many more healthcare workers are getting infected. That's a signal that there has been some mutation allowing an easier transmission. Death rates for this outbreak are less than prior, estimated in the field to be closer to 60/40 rather than 71/29 you may be hearing. (However, those are initial observations by medical professionals in country, there may be more deaths unaccounted for, a certainty. I'm leaning towards the higher ratio.)

So a few take aways: 1) Steven Mason, Ph.D, may not be the best source of info; 2) the doctors who really know, Infectious Disease specialists, Virologists, etc. are concerned but not worried, 3) transmission of the virus is seemingly easier this time around, even with the normal precautions and that is the main point of concern.