'Remarkable outcome': Big gains are likely for the economy this year even as COVID-19 damage lingers

It was supposed to be a dark winter for the economy.

But buoyed by government relief aid, falling COVID-19 cases and the vaccine rollout, growth is expanding briskly and the economy is projected to boom this year as pandemic-related restrictions ease.

Some economists even predict that by late 2021 and throughout 2022, the nation’s gross domestic output will be larger than it would have been if the health crisis hadn’t occurred.

“That’s a particularly remarkable outcome, especially when you consider that (in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2007-09),...