I agree it is probably miles over the top, but the point is we do not yet know just what damage this virus is doing to us. Immediate death rate is just one part of the equation. It is already very clear that there is a lot more to this virus than its percentage mortality rate soon after infection. People making comparisons with the flu death rate for instance, and concluding that the economic cost has already been too high, are very much counting their chickens before they have hatched. I am very afraid of the economic fallout, but I am far more afraid of the damage the virus itself is doing.