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A severe coronavirus could easily overwhelm the U.S. health care system, Axios health care editor Sam Baker writes.

Most pandemics put health care workers at particular risk, both to become infected and then to spread the infection.

• Experts were sounding the alarm even before the first U.S. cases about limited supplies of masks and protective equipment.
• If health care workers do get sick in large numbers, staffing shortages would make it all the harder to care for new patients.

Experts fear a shortage of ventilators and intensive-care beds, if the outbreak becomes severe.

• The U.S. has roughly 46,500 beds designated for ICU use, but even in a moderate scenario, it’s projected that 200,000 people could need ICU treatment, according to a report from Johns Hopkins.
• Yes, but: Many younger, healthier patients will likely be able to recover at home, leaving hospital capacity dedicated mainly to seniors and people with other health complications.

What we’re watching: The coronavirus also seems likely to expose structural gaps in the health care system.

• Insurers have promised to make coronavirus testing available for free, and a handful of hospital systems have imposed temporary freezes in billing patients for coronavirus treatments.
• But relying on individual acts of corporate benevolence won’t provide any blanket assurance that care will be affordable, especially to the poor or uninsured — and if people don’t get care because they’re afraid of the cost, rightly or not, that risks further spreading the infection.

Go deeper: Listen to Sam and Dan examine the health care issue.