Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Also, looking the guy up on wikipedia shows you this intro:

Eric L. Feigl-Ding is an American public health scientist who has received awards for his work in epidemiology, nutrition, and health economics. He is a visiting scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health and Chief Health Economist and Senior Vice President with Microclinic International. He is a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, and a WEF Global Shaper. He was also a 2018 Democratic candidate for Congress from Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district, as an advocate for public health, drug safety, and science.

Ding was a whistle-blower in the drug safety risks of the painkillers Vioxx, Celebrex, and Bextra, and was recognized in The New York Times, and in the book Poison Pills: The Untold Story of the Vioxx Drug Scandal.

Ding founded the Campaign for Cancer Prevention, a 6 million member online cancer education and fundraising campaign medical research, featured in The New York Times. He is a recognized drinking water health advocate and founded ToxinAlert.org, as a public alert tool to warn communities about drinking water contaminations to prevent future lead poisonings like the Flint Water Crisis.

I think people could be excused for assuming he's one of the experts worth listening to, and that his assessment of the situation while maybe not the be-all and end-all, would certainly be at least somewhat reasonable. It's not like some pseudo scientist fearmongering etc. person posted some random bullshit on twitter and everyone believed it just like that.