The flu is endemic. Everybody is exposed to it multiple times per season. We have some degree of herd immunity and vaccines. The Wuhan virus is not endemic and relatively few people have been exposed to it. There is no herd immunity or vaccine at this time. The goal is to keep the Wuhan virus cases low while we work on countermeasures.
If we keep on stamping it out as fast as we find outbreaks we have a chance to keep the numbers low - like South Korea, where it is only 9 times as lethal as the flu. If we fail, like Italy, we get 1 in 15 cases dead.
This article turned me from skeptic to thinking better safe than sorry: https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
The point being, don’t panic. Don’t panic about the flu and don’t panic about COVID-19. By grace through faith, rest in the protection of God in Christ and use common sense for both the flu and this COVID-19.