These numbers are minuscule. What a ridiculous overreaction, perhaps for profit and/or control. There are already 10,000 DEAD in the U.S. from the flu this season alone.
When the official numbers were posted in China a few days ago or so, at first it had 150,000 confirmed cases and 25,000 deaths. But then the numbers quickly changed to the lower numbers. People think these might be the Chinese government’s internal numbers that were mistakenly posted instead of the vastly lower numbers that they are reporting to the public and the rest of the world.
This isn't about how many have died within the first weeks of the outbreak. It's about the potential for a global pandemic. The mortality of 2019-nCoV is not yet fully known, but it is several orders of magnitude higher than any recent flu strain. At R0=2+, it is also significantly more contagious. It has the potential to kill tens of millions. Sitting back and saying "the flu has killed more" until this virus surpasses it, before trying to stop a pandemic is suicidal.
Consider that Wuhan has a population of 11 million. That is about 1/30th of the USA. If you applied the fatalities in Wuhan to the population of the USA, it would be about 10,000 fatalities in the first month. At the current rate of infection, that could double every two weeks if not stopped.
I'm not saying this is a "Spanish flu" level event, but to dismiss our (minimal) current efforts as an overreaction is ridiculous. When a virus like this breaks out, you have to get in front of it, not hope for the best case, or say "meh, it's over there".