How bad could the 2003 SARS crisis have gotten given the behavior of "Vanilla SARS", which is slower transmitting than COVID-19???
The WHO isn't run by Gro Brundtland who called out China for suppressing news of the outbreak and who took the lead on the response to the outbreak. The result is a worse outbreak in Hong Kong, Toronto, and other hotspots. The appearance of severe, mysterious pneumonia correlated with some type of coronavirus sets off alarms, with China denying responsibility until an outbreak in Beijing leads to the deaths of Premier Hu Jintao and other senior CCP leaders. China responds with an efficient regimen of lockdowns and quarantines but the deaths of 80-120000 is jarring to the country. Canada locks down Toronto and Vancouver, which are also hit fairly hard due to their links with China and the US. The WHO declares a pandemic and finally responds, but 500000-750000 wind up dead. Still ppl feel relieved that it was easy to detect and stop.