fear of the unknown. While it's not exactly the same as the flu, all this fear mongering doesn't do us any good.
Actually, there is no fear of the unknown. But there is fear of the known. It is known to be at least 10x more fatal than the flu. It is unknown if it is 30-40x worse than the flu. It is known to be far more contagious than the flu. It is known that 20x more patients are hospitalized vs the flu. It is known that there is no vaccine and no cure. It is known that there are not nearly enough hospital beds to treat a majority of the severely ill, or any person that gets sick at the wrong time. It is known that the incubation period makes it impossible to catch early. It is known that the summer weather is not going to fizzle it out. It is known that the US has very few test kits to track the spread. It is known that the US doesn't have enough PPE or proper procedures in place. It is known that containment is impossible without massive quarantines.
The only unknown that I am afraid of, and it scares me more and more each day - how long will it take the ignorant and uninformed to start taking it seriously - because only then will we be able to start creating effective measures in curtailing it. And the longer it takes, the more people will die.