There's actually evidence that there's tissue damage in the longs (read, potentially permanent damaged lung capacity) even prior to symptoms, and of course, even after recovery, in young people too. This thing is no joke. There's good reason to believe even many young people who get infected will have permanent damage and for given the correlations between lifespan and organ health, it's not unlikely that this damage to the lungs results in years of lifespan cut decades down the line.

That's just a little tidbit on people who don't even show any symptoms. Then there's many people hospitalised who're literally in a state of feeling like they can't breath for weeks, it's absolutely agonising. If you want more, just look up the pictures of coffins laid out in Italy and the military trucks transporting out dead bodies. These aren't hoax images or videos (although some do circulate). I don't see how the comparison to flu is apt.