Fox News has this article titled "Flu has killed 20K Americans including 136 children so far this season, CDC says".

As the article title seems to imply, the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is saying that the flu or common cold has already killed 20,000 Americans during this season. Out of this number 136 are children.

If this is the case then it seems that the seasonal flu may be (at least) just as dangerous than the coronavirus, if not worse.

This would make all panic about COVID-19 then sound unusual. I know both Italy and South Korea also have the seasonal flu but they have never reacted with large-scale quarantine against it. Yet now those countries have imposed draconian measures in order to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Question:

Has the seasonal flu already killed 20,000 Americans only during this season?