Stephen King is denouncing comparisons between his 1978 novel "The Stand" and the coronavirus.

Social media users have drawn comparisons between the two due to the novel's premise: The release of an influenza strain causes an apocalyptic pandemic, killing over 99% of the population.

And though the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has already killed 22 people in the United States and almost 4,000 worldwide, it has still claimed fewer lives than the flu. So far this season, there have been 18,000 deaths from flu in the U.S.

© Evan Agostini, Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Stephen King is quitting Facebook over "the flood of false information that's allowed in its political advertising" and privacy concerns.

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In an attempt to lay the comparisons to rest, the author, 72, took to Twitter Monday to share his thoughts.

"No, coronavirus is NOT like THE STAND. It’s not anywhere near as serious. It’s eminently survivable. Keep calm and take all reasonable precautions," he said.

No, coronavirus is NOT like THE STAND. It’s not anywhere near as serious. It’s eminently survivable. Keep calm and take all reasonable precautions. — Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 8, 2020

King, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, wrote a followup tweet about how he thinks the president is handling the public health crisis.

"Donald Trump: the man is an idiot," he tweeted. "That’s who we have in charge during this crisis: an idiot."

This isn't the first time King has used social media to talk about a headline-making issue.

In January he made controversial comments about the Oscars' lack of diversity after no women were nominated for best director and the acting categories were nearly all white.

"I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality,” King tweeted. "It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong."

According to King, diversity "did not come up" for him when he considered whom to nominate.

"As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay," he wrote. "For me, the diversity issue--as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway--did not come up."

A few hours later, King appeared to walk back his comments.

"The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation," he wrote. "Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts."

Contributing: Charles Trepany and Cydney Henderson

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stephen King decries comparisons between coronavirus and his pandemic novel ‘The Stand'