Coronavirus

Definitions of the ten most important terms to understand covid-19 pandemic 


coronavirus
Coronavirusrefers to any of various RNA-containing spherical viruses of the family Coronaviridae, including several that cause acute respiratory illnesses.
Notable types of coronavirusare SARSMERS, and COVID-19. COVID-19 is popularly referred to as (the) coronavirusor coronafor short. COVID-19 is referred to as the novel coronavirus because it is a new (novel) virus (i.e., it hasn’t been detected before). Novel coronaviruscan be abbreviated as nCoV.
When looked at under a microscope, coronaviruses appear to be surrounded by a spiky array thought to look like a corona, or a crown-like shape, hence the name coronavirus.

epidemic
An epidemicis a temporary prevalence of a disease spreading from person to person in a locality where that disease is not permanently prevalent.

incubation period
Incubation periodmeans the period between infection and the appearance of signs of a disease.

mitigation
Disease mitigationare measures taken to slow the spread of infection. Quarantineisolation, and social distancingare forms of mitigation.
Washing your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds is one important thing to do to help prevent the spread, or mitigate, COVID-19.

quarantine
Quarantineis a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.
In public health, people are placed in quarantinewhen they are not currently sick, but have been or may have been exposed to a communicable disease. This helps stop the spread of the disease.
Self-quarantineis when someone isn’t ordered to go into quarantine but chooses to do so out of caution; also called voluntary quarantine.

isolation
Isolationis the complete separation from others of a person suffering from contagious or infectious disease.
In public health, isolationhappens when a person is infected with a communicable disease, and is separated from people who are healthy. This helps stop the spread of disease.
Self-isolation is voluntary isolation. Note that everyday people may use self-isolationwhen they aren’t infected and are social distancing.

asymptomatic
Asymptomaticmeans “showing no evidence of disease.”
Just because a person is asymptomaticdoesn’t mean they aren’t infected with COVID-19.

communicable
Communicablemeans “capable of being easily communicated (spread) or transmitted.” COVID-19 is a communicabledisease.
Communicablediseases are infectious diseases. All contagious diseases are infectious, but not all infectious diseases are contagiousContagious diseases are infectious diseases that are easily spread through contact with other people.

exponential
When a disease, such as COVID-19, spreads exponentially, that generally means the number of cases of infection increase steadily but rapidly. Without containment, such exponentialspread results in a large number of infections even when an area has a small number of cases to begin with.

pandemic
pandemicis a disease prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world. A pandemic is an epidemic that has spread over a large area.
The World Health Organization (WHO) specifically uses pandemicto refer to new diseases people do not have immunity for and that have spread worldwide. The WHO has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
Pandemiccan be both a noun and an adjective (e.g., a pandemicdisease).

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