“Except that you need to be sick enough to need an ICU, to be put in one.”
I laid out the numbers, do the math.
This thing puts a higher percentage of cases in the hospital and in the ICU, compared to the flu.
My remark was intended to convey, "This coronavirus is serious, BECAUSE you don't get put into the ICU unless you are quite ill."
...and the ICUS are filling up with coronavirus patients.
(According to France and Italy, and IIRC this morning the Netherlands, an increasing percentage of the ICUS are in the 40-60 year old range. Therefore, affecting more of the population than just "great-Uncle Ben" or "old Grand-Bader."