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I agree about avoiding hysteria, but IF "most" people got the virus...

Let's take "most" people to be 50% of the population. The Seattle Metro area had ~3.9 million people in 2017. The virus death rate is currently estimated at 2%.

So just accepting that 3.9m * 0.5 * 0.02 = 39,000 people will die in the the Seattle area alone seems a bit extreme

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Saying that the death rate is 2% is extremely dishonest since it ignores one of the most important factors: age. For most people reading this you're off by an entire decimal.

That's only "dishonest" if your only concern is to estimate your own probability of dying and you are a young person. However, if you're trying to estimate the proportion of (confirmed) infected people that will die, it's a pretty good guess.

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