Medical personnel outside of China were still laughing this off as "just another flu" until mid February at the earliest. Unfortunately all I have is anecdote..

Medical personnel outside of China were still laughing this off as "just another flu" until mid February at the earliest. Unfortunately all I have is anecdote...but it took far too long for people to take this seriously, because doctors are humans too and aren't necessarily trawling internet forums for happenings.