I was reading that regular flu has already killed 8000 in the U.S. already this season

But, this of course is NOT the coronavirus. The problem with the Coronavirus of course is it's possibility of becoming a real pandemic like the Spanish Flu of 1918 which is the last pandemic to really get out of control around the whole world which killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide at that time. Whereas the regular flu might kill 10,000 or more people just in the U.S. every single winter.

So, the real difference is that the Coronavirus (potentially) could kill millions and regular flu regularly kills around 10,000 people in the U.S. every winter. This is usually the very young and very old who succomb to the  flu on a regular basis worldwide.