(A) All these decisions by public officials and businesses are aimed at one goal: slowing down the spread of the virus to avoid overburdening a health care system that doesn't have the infrastructure to handle a sudden surge of tens of thousands of cases at once.

(B) Epidemiologists study diseases and how they spread. They can somewhat predict how many cases of a disease are going to occur based on how the disease is behaving.

(C) The only reason total U.S. cases aren't already skyrocketing is that coronavirus testing has been such a mess that too few people — just 77 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the whole week of March 8 — are being tested. You can't count cases you haven't identified yet.

(D) But every indication is that the United States is on track to see the same exponential increase other countries are seeing, as scientist Mark Handley has been tracking on Twitter.

Explanation:

Flattening the curve basically means to lessen the pressure on the healthcare system by employing precautionary measures against the coronavirus. These, as you might already be aware, include hand washing, use of face masks, sanitizers, gloves and staying at home to prevent catching the infection.

Without protective measures, the number of cases will increase exponentially, ultimately overburdening the healthcare system. There won't be enough doctors, nurses or medical equipment to cater to the patients.

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2 years ago