Predicting "peak virus" is often destined to fail. But it is not pointless.

Many health, policy and economic experts worldwide are working together to map the curve of the epidemic of coronavirus disease spreading from China, but they warn that there are too many holes in the data to reliably predict when it will reach its peak — the point at which the daily number of new cases will start to decline consistently.

"If anybody tells you when it will peak, it's not worth it," said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.