The situation around the novel coronavirus changes daily, but one thing is pretty clear: It’s getting worse.

That’s why Greater Washington’s hospitals and health clinics are preparing for an influx of patients with symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus — while preserving the health of their own staff and other patients.

Inova Health System has actually seen a decrease in patients in the last few days, “likely related to patients taking the advice for social distancing seriously,” said Dr. Stephen Jones, its president and CEO. But “we anticipate a high likelihood that that will change — predicting exactly when it changes is difficult, but we are prepared for that.”

The preparation started in mid-January, when the Falls Church-based health system created a task force to determine how to best care for patients should the outbreak continue, which “seemed like it might be an abundance of caution but now, it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s anything…