Let's take a look at that. 5.8% of those who tested positive in NYC have died. (16,599 out of 282,000)
While that is more serious than the flu, we know at least 3700 of those were "presumed COVID-19 deaths" and there may be other cooking in those books. Equally, the denominator is uncertain: we don't know how many low intensity or asymptomatic infections there have been, or how many have recovered.
But taking that 5.8% of the people who tested positive, out of a population of 8,399,000 people, only 0.2% of the population of the city have succumbed. 198 people per 100,000, so far, which puts this disease slightly ahead of the ordinary number one killer, Heart disease, at 171.9/100,000. Granted the Heart disease number is annual, and the year is far from over.
Is that cause for concern? Sure.
Is it the reason to shut down a nation (considering the other states have been less severely affected)?
I guess every one must weigh their personal risks in an economic depression versus that 0.2% chance they may get the disease and die from it.
For states where the risk of contracting and dying from the disease is significantly lower, poverty, hunger, the loss of assets, and the wholesale destruction of rights looms far more threateningly.