Over the past few weeks, as large gatherings across the country have been cancelled and people have been urged to practice social distancing, there has been much talk of "flattening the curve" of the coronavirus. It's a reference to the aggressive preemptive actions many states are taking to help slow the spread of COVID-19, in the hope that a sudden spike in severe cases will not overwhelm the American health care system — a spike that would be made worse by a corresponding surge in sick doctors and shortages of medical equipment.

"I don't think of a curve. I think of a wave," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference Monday. "And the wave is going to break on the hospital system."