Can the U.S. handle the second wave of COVID-19 coming our way?

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Project Syndicate) — Like surfers looking out for the next big breaker before the first one has passed, epidemiologists and public-health officials in the United States are bracing themselves for a fresh surge of COVID-19 infections later this year. The fear is that this second wave will coincide with the peak of the 2020-21 U.S. influenza season, triggering a new flood of hospital patients in dire need of respiratory support.

The fear is justified, based on what we know about coronaviruses and influenza. For both, infections begin rising in November and peak at some point in December, January, or February, before subsiding by April.