Add caption

protect myself from the coronavirus

             

                    What is the coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a family of hundreds of viruses that can cause fever, respiratory problems, and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms too. The 2019 novel coronavirus is one of seven members of this family known to infect humans, and the third in the past three decades to jump from animals to humans. Since emerging in China in December, this new coronavirus has caused a global health emergency.

HOW DOES IT SPREAD?

It’s likely to be transmitted in droplets from coughing or sneezes, and the virus has a two- to 14-day incubation period. That means people could be infectious for quite a while before symptoms like fever, cough, or shortness of breath emerge.

WHAT ARE THE PARTICULAR SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19?

In the confirmed cases so far, most people get a fever with a dry cough; smaller numbers of folks might experience shortness of breath, a sore throat, or a headache.

HOW CAN I AVOID CATCHING THE CORONAVIRUS?

• Wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands. You get the point.

• Clean all of your tech equipment. Just like your hands, your smartphone and keyboard and headphones and anything else gets germs on it.

• Are you a health care worker? If not, don't buy a face mask—that depletes supplies for the health professionals who need them. Same goes for gloves (see: "wash your hands," above).

• If you're in a high-risk group (over 60, have preexisting lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, or a weakened immune system) you should seek treatment if you get sick, since it can quickly go from cough to full-blown pneumonia. Call your doctor or clinic first with your suspicions so they can direct you appropriately. If you're not in a high-risk group, better to self-isolate at home with plenty of fluids and anti-fever meds. Odds are you'll recover, and this way you won't expose anyone. Still call your doctor, so they know what's going on—they may be able to direct you to people at the health department who can conduct testing. Don't go to the ER unless you're really experiencing life-threatening symptoms.

 HOW DID IT GET ITS OFFICIAL NAME?

The international committee tasked with classifying viruses has named the new one SARS-CoV-2, because of its close genetic ties to another coronavirus, the one that causes SARS. However, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2—remember, that's the disease characterized by coughing, fever, and respiratory distress—is called Covid-19. It's the name officially bestowed upon the ailment by the World Health Organization. WHO's task was to find a name that didn't demonize a particular place, animal, individual, or group of people and which was also pronounceable. It's pronounced just like it sounds: Co-Vid-Nine-teen.

If you're confused, think about HIV/AIDS. Human-immunodeficiency virus infects people. If left untreated, HIV can lead to autoimmune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Some people might get infected with SARS-CoV-2 and not get sick at all. Others will come down with symptoms of the disease Covid-19. (Yeah, it sounds like the name of a robot raven to us, too.)

 WHERE DID SARS-COV-2 COME FROM, ANYWAY?

The first cases were identified at the tail end of 2019 in Wuhan, the capital city of China’s Hubei province, when hospitals started seeing patients with severe pneumonia. Like the viruses that cause MERS and SARS, the new coronavirus appears to have originated in bats, but it’s not clear how the virus jumped from bats to humans or where the first infections occurred. Often, pathogens journey through an intermediary “animal reservoir”—bats infect the animals, and humans come into contact with some product from that animal. That could be milk or undercooked meat, or even mucus, urine, or feces. For example, MERS moved to humans through camels, and SARS came through civet cats sold at a live animal market in Guangzhou, China.