That is a 0.14% death rate from influenza that year.
The death rate of coronavirus is nearing 7%. Today, it is 6.734%, but the number goes up daily. So, if the Covid-19 case count were to go up to 45 million cases, that would be over 3 million deaths. There is, of course no reason to think that allowing Covid-19 to spread freely would result in only 45 million illnesses. Most people are resistant to the flu, so the number of possible cases is limited. Since no one is immune to Covid-19, the number of cases is, theoretically, the entire population.
Around 2.5 million people die per year in the US. Having the death rate suddenly more than double will have a severe effect.
Oh, and FYI: the influenza burden costs the economy billions of dollars every year. Along with causing hospitalizations and deaths, just the missed work alone causes huge economic disruption. The government takes influenza seriously, even if you don't. If Covid-19 were to spread freely through the population, we wouldn't just see millions of deaths; there would be significant economic disruption just from the people who are unable to work for a time (2-6 weeks).
Did you use to work for the CDC?
Oh so you are saying we'll have another 2.5 million deaths this year because of this virus? Ok.
So are you suggesting that we shut the entire economy down every time we have an influenza hit the country???