I ran it by someone close to me who tends to trust authority. The answer back was 'we know it's bad because hospitals are full, medical workers are putting in overtime hours, and there's a shortage of ventilators.' I really don't know enough to argue that authoritatively. You would think with how many people are sick with flu or die from flu on a normal year vs how many infected/dead from Wuhan, the additional strain would barely be noticeable. But people are reporting different things in different places. Maybe ventilator shortages are due to stressed supply chains rather than overuse of them, or maybe the respiratory element of this virus is a unique aspect we weren't prepped for in our normal flu season. Either way, seems to be blown way out of proportion. But I wonder if people will ever come to terms with that. It would be so embarrassing to admit we all got fooled on this scale, so maybe that viewpoint will become just another conspiracy theory, and we'll be chided about "social distancing" and coughing into our elbows next flu season and every one after.