Not sure if this is a hoax as I haven't looked into it:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dean- ... ronavirus/

I'm going with hack

The really really sick funny weird thing about this..

This guy wrote a work of fiction 40 years ago that in a very superficial way (only) seems to parallel actual events today.
- And some fruit cakes are already saying that this coincidence is further proof that it was indeed a man-made biological weapon.

Think about it - and then roll around on the floor in screaming fits of laughter (again) at these mentally defective conspiracy theorists.
(after kicking the cat if you want, like me)

From my understanding (which could be wrong) Originally it was Gorki-400 from Russia. When Koontz rereleased a couple years later the Cold War had ended and Russia wasn't seen as such a threat and the US was experiencing some friction with China. There was also a lot of Anti-communist movement in America. "The Cold War isn't thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn't sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting."- Richard M. Nixon So I believe he changed the villain to China as that was the current threat in his eyes. No mumbo jumbo involved.