Well every virus is different, some are more virulent than others. On top of that, the only models to go off of is H1N1, SARS, Swine Flu, and Avian Flu, there hasn't been any other wide-spread event like this since the Spanish Flu. So sure, I don't doubt that people thought it would be bad, but I'm sure any projections presented that early were rough since there wasn't too much to go off of. ****, estimates made weeks ago had are deaths way higher and those were studies involving Stanford running simulations.