It's not actually rare, as evidenced by the number of people in rural China who are seropositive for novel coronaviruses. This is the third new coronavirus that

It's not actually rare, as evidenced by the number of people in rural China who are seropositive for novel coronaviruses. This is the third new coronavirus that has caused a major outbreak in the last 18 years. Many more coronaviruses have likely jumped into humans, and have either petered out quickly or spread unnoticed (i.e., they cause nothing more than a cold).