The peak of the coronavirus outbreak in the heartland of the US could hit sometime in mid-to-late April, but all the sacrifices that are being made in order to flatten the curve appear to be working, according to experts.

Flattening the curve is all about lessening or preventing a sudden spike in cases that could overwhelm hospitals and prevent them from saving lives. The CDC explains that an epidemic curve is just a visual image used to display when illness started and the number of cases associated with an outbreak.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Zach Jenkins, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Cedarville University, discusses whether the "curve" has truly been flattened and what Americans should expect in the weeks to come from the coronavirus.

He explained that it is important to prevent the spread of an epidemic early and Americans have done a lot to "delay the onset of this peak."

"Using the Ohio Department of Health's data, we know that our projected peak would have been towards the end of March. At that point it was thought that over 40,000 cases reported per day in Ohio which would have greatly overwhelmed the number of hospital beds available," he said. "Since we've instituted a lot of these social distancing efforts, we've actually seen that peak is delayed, but also decrease in how high it would grow."

Dr. Jenkins emphasized that social distancing has delayed the peak of the outbreak, buying precious time for the medical field to replace healthcare resources.

"We are now expecting the peak in Ohio to hit sometime in mid-to-late April and some projections are saying early May. We've delayed the onset and now have an opportunity to increase our healthcare resources," he said.

To hear more analysis of what's going on with the COVID-19 outbreak, watch the video below from Dr. Jenkins and Cedarville University:

Dr. Jenkins releases a weekly COVID-19 update every Monday during the pandemic.

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