I don't think 2019, but it certainly was starting in late January/Early February. Where it was masked with normal seasonal influenza.
We won't want know the mortality rate of the virus. We only can look at total deaths, but we know we have had at least 66,000 deaths more than experected as of the end of April. We're gonna wind up with more expected deaths than WWI, of course not adjusted for population. But for another perspective. It's more poeple than have died in all wars and military interventions since Vietnam. It's nothing to turn your nose up at. And that is with protective measures in place to delay the strain on the medical system.