Wired<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat Is A Coronavirus?\u00a0\u00a0What is COVID-19?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
It is the year 2020, and the world has changed, literally, over a span of a few weeks.\u00a0\u00a0Global travel which was at its prime just recently, making it one of the hallmarks of the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0Century, has become more restricted, and in some cases are at a standstill.\u00a0\u00a0Most forms of commerce have slowed down, some of the world\u2019s biggest corporations are posting losses instead of profits, and even the world\u2019s major economies are warning its citizens of a possible recession.\u00a0\u00a0What has caused such a drastic change?\u00a0\u00a0A group of inanimate microscopic entities capable of wreaking havoc on a lot of people\u2019s health, spreading quickly and causing disease in the global human population, raising alarms and fear amongst many, and causing a global human mortality rate never before seen in recent decades.\u00a0\u00a0It is a Virus.\u00a0\u00a0More specifically, a Coronavirus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat exactly is a Coronavirus?\u00a0\u00a0And is this totally new to the world?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Coronavirus is not a single kind of virus.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, it is a family of viruses, characterized by crown-like protrusions on their surface.\u00a0\u00a0These protrusions are actually protein receptors, and their appearance is the basis for the virus family\u2019s name:\u00a0\u00a0Coronavirus, a virus with a crown.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
While it is believed that Coronaviruses have existed long before in animals habituating areas far from human existence, it was first detected in humans in the 1960s.\u00a0\u00a0There are hundreds of species in the Coronavirus family, some existing in humans, others in animals, others in both.\u00a0\u00a0Of the hundreds of known Coronaviruses, only six were known to cause disease in humans as of early 2019.\u00a0\u00a0A common characteristic amongst these six Coronaviruses was the fact that they had the potential of causing upper respiratory tract illnesses in humans, although in varying severities.\u00a0\u00a0Four of these six viruses were known as Alpha Coronavirus 229E, Alpha Coronavirus NL63, Beta Coronavirus OC43, Beta Coronavirus HKU1, and were common infections world-wide, causing mild to moderate upper respiratory tract illnesses like the common cold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
In November 2002, a 5th<\/sup>\u00a0Coronavirus that could cause disease in humans was identified.\u00a0\u00a0This one caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.\u00a0\u00a0The virus was hence named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome \u2013 Coronavirus, or SARS-CoV.\u00a0\u00a0This specific virus disappeared in 2004, hopefully due to eradication and not just because of being dormant.\u00a0\u00a0Another Coronavirus, now the 6th<\/sup>\u00a0species known to cause disease in humans, was detected in September 2012.\u00a0\u00a0This 6th<\/sup>\u00a0species is suspected to have originated from dromedary camels in the Middle East region, and the disease was thus named the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, it is also a severe upper respiratory tract illness.\u00a0\u00a0The virus was named Middle East Respiratory Syndrome \u2013 Coronavirus, or MERS-CoV.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOn 31 December 2019, the Government of China reported to the World Health Organization that they were handling a case of pneumonia of unknown causes.\u00a0\u00a0The case originated from Wuhan, China, was known to be caused by a previously unknown virus, and so the virus was at first nicknamed the \u201cWuhan Virus\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Since that first report of a pneumonia case of unknown cause in Wuhan, China, the world has now been introduced to a 7th<\/sup>\u00a0Coronavirus that causes disease in humans.\u00a0\u00a0Once the virus was confirmed to be a Coronavirus, it was referred to in public media as \u201cnovel Coronavirus\u201d to indicate that the virus was newly detected, and therefore not much details were known about it.\u00a0\u00a0Over the course of the next month more and more cases of same characteristics were being reported in China, and with rapid contagion being reported and proven across geographic borders, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th<\/sup>\u00a0January 2020, merely a month since the first case was officially reported.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOn 11th<\/sup>\u00a0February 2020, the disease was officially named the Coronavirus Disease 19, or COVID-19, to denote that it was caused by what is now the 7th<\/sup>\u00a0human disease-causing Coronavirus, and that the disease was first detected in 2019.\u00a0\u00a0The culprit:\u00a0\u00a0the virus now officially named the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2 (although many people across the globe still refer to it as the \u201cWuhan Virus\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOn 11th<\/sup>\u00a0March 2020, with more and more cases being reported in more and more countries across the globe, it was clear that the virus was spreading fast and far, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a Global Pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0With deaths due to COVID-19 reaching unprecedented rates, some countries shutdown borders, others declared their own communities under quarantine or lockdown.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhile many viruses have proven to be contagious even in recent decades, the big concern with SARS-CoV-2 is that it is proving to spread really fast, much faster than most other viruses.\u00a0\u00a0It is this rate of spread that has made it necessary to restrict human mobility both across borders and within borders.\u00a0\u00a0Another big concern is that not all who have the virus actually show symptoms.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore it is possible, even proven, that a person could be carrying the virus and inadvertently be spreading it without anyone knowing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What is known about SARS-CoV-2 is that it is spread through body fluid, particularly respiratory tract fluids (e.g. saliva, phlegm, nasal mucous or snot).\u00a0\u00a0When an infected person sneezes or coughs, their respiratory tract fluids containing the virus could be ejected in droplet or aerosol form.\u00a0\u00a0If these fluids come in contact with another person, so does the virus it carries.\u00a0\u00a0Once the virus gets to an uninfected person, and the virus gets spread into the person\u2019s mouth, nose, or eyes, it will find its way into that person\u2019s respiratory tract, and that person becomes infected.\u00a0\u00a0Once infected, this person can now be spreading the virus, too.\u00a0\u00a0If the respiratory tract fluids get onto the hands, and the hands touch another person\u2019s hands, and that other person touches his or her face, there is potential to spread the virus into the mouth, nose, or eyes, and eventually into this new person\u2019s respiratory tract.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Even indirect contact can spread the virus.\u00a0\u00a0If the droplets land on doorknobs, handrails, or any other commonly touched surfaces, whoever touches those surfaces will have the virus on their hands, and then they could touch someone\u2019s hands, or touch their own face, and the cycle continues.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Preventing The Spread Of SARS-CoV-2:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nNow that infectious disease experts have been able to identify how SARS-CoV-2 spreads, they have also been able to formulate the tested and proven methods to prevent their spread, and thus reduce the COVID-19 cases that result from this contagion.\u00a0\u00a0Not surprisingly, most of these methods are basic, simple, easy, and have been proven effective long before the first Coronavirus was detected.\u00a0\u00a0Read on to know what you may already have been doing right, and what else you should be doing to make yourself more protected against catching the virus and suffering from COVID-19.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Frequent and Proper Hand Washing<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n