A bit of perspective here...
Lets just look at a couple of facts.
How many of you guys don't take Malaria tablets when you go to a Malarial country? Malaria kills a higher percentage of sufferrers than SARS and kills 1600 people PER DAY, EVERY DAY. That, at the moment is much more deadly and much more likely than catching a dose of SARS. I agree that SARS needs to be contained before it becomes a major epidemic/pandemic, but there are plenty of things that are worse at the moment.
Face masks do next to nothing, a virus will pass straight through them and it is more a politeness in Eastern countries then a preventative. Washing your hands and being generally clean is a lot more important than using a mask.
I do not support or condemn the guys in the union or Air India as I have no idea what the real circumstances are, but the above is a couple of things to try and put SARS in perspective. I am not saying do nothing, but I do suggest that the media are hyping it a lot and this is having a huge knock on affect.