Flattening the Curve

You may have seen a graph on social media called “flattening the curve.” That graph shows a tall, narrow curve and a short, wide curve. Through the graph is a line that shows how many sick people U.S. hospitals can treat. The tall curve goes above the line. That means too many people are sick at one time: We won’t have enough hospital beds for all the people who will need treatment. The flatter curve shows what happens if the spread of the virus slows down. The same number of people may get sick, but the infections happen over a longer span of time, so hospitals can treat everyone.

April 16 also is now estimated as the peak hospital use date in the US. At this peak date, the US is projected to need 260,342 total hospital beds (38,849 for ICU) and 31,082 ventilators to support COVD-19 patients

CDC estimates that the burden of illness during the 2018–2019 season included an estimated 35.5 million people getting sick with influenza, 16.5 million people going to a health care provider for their illness, 490,600 hospitalizations, and 34,200 deaths from influenza.

By June 4, Becker’s Hospital Review reported that 266 hospitals have furloughed thousands of workers in response to COVID‑19.

NPC reports that 17 field hospitals were built by the US government to support existing hospitals. Together they could support over 10,000 patients. However, almost all of them have not been used at all, and some have already been decommissioned.

Many people have posted videos showing empty hospitals during the epidemic.