This is true, but as Adler pointed out, it affects different people differently. In most cases, it is no more severe than a normal 'flu (for specifics, it's a strain of SARS). The reality is that the larger majority of those who will get infected will be so for between 5 days and two weeks, with symptoms and effects similar to more familiar strains of the 'flu. The majority of deaths are from pre-existing conditions, in Italy it is around 99.8% of those who died suffered from pre-existing conditions (you don't die from COVID-19, it's a virus, it affects your immune system and you die of whatever you've got that might kill you).
The big things about this is a) there is no vaccine, and b) it remains alive on surfaces for much longer than known 'flus and transmits through the air in bodily fluids, so spreads real fast. This is why isolation is the best remedy. Bearing all this in mind, I do feel we are all over-reacting big time.