If the cases are higher that means there's more cases with mild to no symptoms, that makes the virus even less dangerous. Just a theory, but my theory is a large number of the severe cases are actually coinfections with the H1N1, Amy acton admitted that it's possible but no one is testing for it. They attack respiratory cells from different angles and can be devastating when they're both present.
As far as exponential growth, super scary, but if it doubles every 3 days that means the last 3 days accounts for 50% of the population. That growth rate just isn't sustainable. Yes the wuhan can be bad and flare ups can happen anywhere, but Ohio is doing pretty well right now.