Let us hope that the mortality rate is much lower, due to a chronic underreporting of mild cases. Let us hope that the mortality rate is NOT much higher, due to chronic suppression of unfavorable statistics by the Chinese government. No worries, I trust my own government about as much. "Caronavirus" happened on @realDonaldTrump hours ago.
The former Obama CDC guy says the death rate is probably grossly overstated because he doesn't see how they're testing even a reasonable percentage of cases. In Wuhan, China, the reported proportion of diagnosed patients who die is now 3%. That's a substantial over-estimate; many patients weren't tested, many infected people don't have symptoms and hospitals were overwhelmed. The proportion could be as low as less than 1 in 1,000 -- 30 times lower -- and is unlikely to be more than 1 in 100. The actual rate makes a huge difference, not only to patients but also to decisions about interventions.