It's a lot more contagious and people can be infectious for a while before symptoms appear. That makes a huge difference. Lethality actually makes a pandemic LESS likely because people die quickly before they can spread it. The fact that isolated pockets are popping up here and there around the world means it has been out there in the air-traveling public for longer than we think. It probably had a few months jump on the people trying to isolate it. It also can infect people with minor or no symptoms. That's very bad news from an epidemology viewpoint.

It is less lethal than SARS, but a lot more people are likely to catch it. When I read about the decision process for that plane containing infected and non-infected people, the fact that the state department overruled the CDC said it all: America's response is being run by idiots. We are screwed.

Public Health requires doing hard things based on science, and the Trump administration has never been one to do hard things or pay attention to experts. They think they create reality. Good luck with that.