"In the US the numbers are 1537 cases and 40 deaths. That equates to a mortality rate of just over 2.5%."
No, it doesn't, at all. Those 1537 cases are the KNOWN cases. How many more people out there have it and are experiencing either none or mild symptoms and have not come to the attention of the medical community? It could be in the thousands. To get an accurate mortality rate, you would have to include ALL those cases in the denominator. I suspect that Dr. Fauci is correct that the mortality rate will be around that 1% level or less. Granted, that would be ~10 times that of the seasonal flu, but certainly not the 3-5% figure that the alarmists are throwing out there.
No, it doesn't, at all. Those 1537 cases are the KNOWN cases. How many more people out there have it and are experiencing either none or mild symptoms and have not come to the attention of the medical community? It could be in the thousands. To get an accurate mortality rate, you would have to include ALL those cases in the denominator. I suspect that Dr. Fauci is correct that the mortality rate will be around that 1% level or less. Granted, that would be ~10 times that of the seasonal flu, but certainly not the 3-5% figure that the alarmists are throwing out there.