Mortality of admitted patients of influenza in the U.S. is ~9% (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html). That's not that much different, and the U.S. has a lower mortality rate than much of the world.

The key here is “admitted.” Reports from Wuhan all indicate the hospitality rate is much much lower than usual circumstances since the patient count is over the roof (due to CCP trying to cover up initial cases), and a lot of patients don’t get treatments at all as a result. The high mortality rate is expected sunce only the most acute cases are admitted.