The simplest ODE is something like:
du/dt = k(t) * u(t)
Whose solution locally looks like (for slow-varying k(t))
u(t) ∝ e^{ k(t) * t }
One possibility is k(t) > 0 sustained for 10 effective doubling times. One possibility is k(t) < 0. In this epidemic, either is plausible (?): the difference is only a small difference in some infection control parameters. A small uncertainty that translates into a factor of a thousand uncertainty in the outcome, because it gets blown up by a gigantic e^x.
And the estimates of k(t) seem to hover around the critical value of k(t) ~ 0. In the CDC model (their Excel spreadsheet is open source [0], and FYI won't import into LibreOffice), the shape of the epidemic is purely determined by the shape of their k(t) assumptions. Their defaults parameter exhibit, first, a fast growth phase, assuming k(t) > 0; then they assume a slight reduction to k(t) ~ 0, leading to slower growth; then slightly more reduction to k(t) < 0, causing the epidemic to halt. As far as I can tell k(t) is basically speculative, and completely determines the shape of u(t). So really you predict nothing.