"Statistically" means, in this case, based on data. The data we have right now is EXCEEDINGLY poor. The US just hasn't been testing many people, and the CDC has mandated that only people who travel abroad and those they contact should be tested. It's obvious based on these new cases that Covid-19 is being spread through communities, rather than by single carriers who've travelled abroad.
Statistics based on bad data (which we know is bad at this point) is analogous to guessing, and when guessing it's best to guess with the more cautious point of view. Is it still more likely, at this point in time, that a person with flu-like symptoms has flu? Probably.
Given the transmission rate from Chinese data (also bad data, but not as bad as ours), the US likely has more flu carriers than Covid-19 carriers. But how much more likely? No one knows, and no one can know, until we get a reasonable sample population tested.