I'm not trying to downplay it and I don't blame people for taking precautions.
The problem is that people don't know exactly what to panic about.
The CDC has estimated that H1N1 killed 284,000 globally, and 80% of those people were under the age of 65.
With Covid-19, 80% of deaths in China were in those over 65 years old, and 75% of those were already sick before they got it.
We're seeing more of the same in the US and other counties.
Generally, the mortality rate doesn't exceed that of common influenza until you hit the 50+ age groups (0.2 to 0.4% at ages below 50) , and it doesn't exceed the estimated 3% (which is a high estimate by the way, with the lower at being 1%) until we hit 60+. Even then, 75% of reported deaths in this age group are with those already sick and already with a compromised immune system.
Anyone with a compromised immune system can die of the regular flu.
So the real worry here is exactly how many people have been dying of this virus that aren't already at a high risk of a life threatening scenario brought about by any common virus due to an already weak immune system?
I don't think that comes out to 4.5 million US Citizens.