[SeekAndFind]

Severe coronavirus cases seem to be rare, and some cases go unreported

Shoppers at a supermarket following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, on February 10. China Daily via REUTERS

Of the patients in the Chinese CDC report, only 2,087 — 2.3% of all cases — developed symptoms the report defined as "critical": respiratory failure, septic shock, or organ failure. All of the deaths came from that group.

"In severe cases, you basically flood your lungs and you can't breathe," Dr. Matthew Frieman, an associate professor who researchers coronaviruses at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told National Geographic. "That's how people are dying." 

Overall, however, the COVID-19 fatality rate is far lower than that of past coronavirus epidemics. Based on the ratio of deaths to confirmed cases so far, it appears to be about 2%. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), by contrast, killed 9.6% of those infected, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) killed 34.4% of cases.

[Kozak]

20% is rare ?

It’s not the Black Death.
But it sure isn’t the flu either.

[lepton]

Based on the ratio of deaths to confirmed cases so far, it appears to be about 2%.

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That’s a silly way to count.

As example, using that method:

If you were to replace “Coronavirus” with “Ricin”, and inject 100 people with a dose which would kill 100% in a week, then every day double the number of people you give the injection, after one week you would have a fatality/injection ratio of 0.8% (100/12,700), for a 100% fatal toxin.