Why it’s too early to compare COVID-19 with the flu

As novel coronavirus spreads around the world, some U.S. officials seem to be downplaying the potential global scope and severity of the disease by comparing it to a common illness — influenza.

In a press conference Wednesday, President Donald Trump softened the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, saying that the virus is “a little bit like the flu.”

“We’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner,” he said, referring to efforts to develop a vaccine for the disease. According to experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci,...