Coronavirus Cheat Sheet
courtesy of HEAL California
Knowing that many sources of information about COVID-19 and the pandemic are not always easy to find, the HEAL Team put together this “cheat sheet” for our subscribers. It is compiled from sources that include The Guardian, Time magazine, The Los Angeles Times, CNN and Wikipedia.
Ancestral strain
In biology, a strain is a genetic variant or sub-type. Two slightly different strains of the coronavirus have been discovered. The “S” strain is ancestral — the older of the two — with the “L” strain emerging from it. The “L” strain is more prevalent — although it is not known whether this means it is more contagious, or whether the two strains differ in severity.
Close contact
Anyone who is within six feet of another person for a prolonged time is considered to be “in close contact.” Public health restrictions on close contact includes people who live with, care for, or visit a person infected with COVID-19. It can also include people who share a waiting room with an infected patient, or come into contact with an infected patient’s secretions (like being coughed on).
Cluster
A disease cluster or an infection cluster is a group of related health events occurring in the same area at around the same time. Some new cases of the current coronavirus pandemic are described as “outbreak clusters.”
Cocooning
Cocooning is a term that refers to sequestering within a protective environment — like staying at home.
Communicable
An adjective describing diseases, such as COVID-19, that can be transmitted. Cancers, by contrast, are diseases that are not communicable.
Community spread
Community spread is the dispersal of a disease within an area where no direct knowledge of when or how someone contracted it can be found. While some cases of coronavirus are traceable to certain trips to affected areas, networks of association among people, or other circumstantial events, community spread is less specific and harder to trace.
How the coronavirus passes from one person to another is of vital concern to health officials in order to track its movements. Unfortunately, once community spread occurs, it is no longer possible to contain the virus to a limited number of people. At that point, a Delay or Mitigation strategy must be pursued.
Contagion
The spread of a disease in general including outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.
Containment
A public health strategy to protect the greater population from an infection among a small group of people.
Containment actions may include restricting travel from afflicted areas, identifying infected people and tracking down everyone they live with or have spent time with (contact tracing), and asking those who have been exposed to the virus to stay at home for a period of time.
Coronavirus
Coronavirus is a family of viruses named for its appearance under the microscope as a ring of spikes, like a crown.
The coronavirus is one among a large family of viruses that includes SARS, MERS and other respiratory illnesses, including the common cold. Coronaviruses can be spread between animals and people, as we have seen with this new coronavirus officially named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The term coronavirus is often used interchangeably with both the virus itself, and the disease it causes: COVID-19.
COVID-19
The World Health Organization acronym standing for “coronavirus disease 2019,” the year the virus was first detected. The name of the virus itself is SARS-CoV-2.
The disease currently spreading around the globe — COVID-19 — is often called coronavirus, it’s really a disease caused by one type of coronavirus: SARS-CoV-2. Calling this particular one novel coronavirus is simply a way of making it clear which coronavirus is at issue: the new one.
Delay
Delay reflects approaches to slow the spread of the disease if it is no longer possible to contain it — it is about buying time, both to ease pressure on health services, and to test possible drugs. Measures to delay the spread of a disease may include cancelling public gatherings, restricting travel and other measures — as has been seen in China, Italy, many U.S. communities and EU states.
Epidemic
An epidemic is an outbreak that has spread to a larger area. The global COVID-19 outbreak was considered to be an epidemic, but on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic. (See Outbreak and Pandemic.)
Flattening the curve
A mitigation strategy focusing on slowing the spread of a disease, so as to reduce the stress upon health care services and to keep them functional. As disease spreads, demand for care increases. By flattening the curve, the surge in demand can be reduced. Examples of mitigating behaviors include reducing public gatherings including non-essential businesses, maintaining a distance of six feet between people, and encouraging people to wash their hands.
Incubation period
The time between when infection occurs and the first symptoms of illness appear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is operating under the assumption that COVID-19 has a two to 14-day incubation period, based on what has been observed with other coronaviruses.
Isolation
Sequestering an infected person so that others are not infected. It can be ordered by the Center for Disease Control, or by state and local governments. In the case of this coronavirus, according to the CDC, the decision to end isolation should be made on a case-by-case basis through healthcare providers and the local health department.
MERS
MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, is another type of coronavirus. This contagion emerged from human contact with camels through a major outbreak in 2012 that was successfully contained.
Mitigation
Once a virus has spread so widely that it’s impossible to keep it at bay, the goal for public health becomes to minimize the potential for exposure. Instead of tracking the sick people and identifying their contacts, the public is asked to help slow the spread of the virus by changing their behavior. The public is urged to avoid gatherings, stay home whether they’re sick or not and frequently to wash their hands. One of the main strategies is to practice “social distancing.”
Morbidity rate
The morbidity rate is a measure of how many people have an illness, relative to the total population. Currently the Center for Disease Control anticipates that every person in the United States will be exposed to this new coronavirus within two years.
Mortality rate
The mortality rate is a measure of how many people have died because of an illness, relative to the infected population. Using modelling, epidemiologists say the true mortality rate of COVID-19 is probably nearer 1%.
N95 Masks, N95 Respirator Masks
N95 masks (or respirator masks) are examples of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from airborne particles. N95 masks block 95% or more of .3 micron particles. They are commonly used in medical, construction and other industries.
As of the end of March, 2020, N95 masks are in short supply at many hospitals at the center of the pandemic, creating risks for medical practitioners and their families, as well as patients who come for testing or other treatment. The limited availability of this and other emergency supplies is why the hospitals are advising the public to weather their maladies at home as long as they are able during this quarantine period.
Novel coronavirus
COVID-19 is a previously unknown coronavirus, hence it is “new” (from the Latin nova, meaning “new thing”). Its genetic structure suggests an origin among bats or pangolins, an Asiatic creature similar to the armadillo.
Outbreak
An increase, often sudden, in an expected rate of occurrence of a disease for a single limited area. Epidemics and pandemics are multiple outbreaks or a series of outbreaks.
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic that has become a worldwide phenomenon. On Wednesday, March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization officially designated COVID-19 a pandemic with “alarming levels of spread and severity.” The official term had been resisted even as outbreaks were reported throughout the world because it was unclear whether containment was still possible. Fear of economic and political consequences also informed that delay.
Person-to-person
Among the several different ways to contract a virus, person-to-person spread refers to transmission through close contact between people. This could mean actual physical contact, or just a cough or sneeze nearby. Although the virus is thought to have originated among animals, and can be contracted from contaminated surfaces, this current coronavirus strain is believed to be spread mainly through person-to-person contact. Putting public venues on hold for some weeks is the most practical solution available to slow its spread.
Presumptive positive
When a public health laboratory has determined a patient has tested positive for a viral infection, but officials are still awaiting confirmation from the CDC. For the purposes of public health, a presumptive positive result is treated as confirmed positive. There are, however, rare situations in which a presumptive positive may turn out to be negative.
Public health emergency
A public health emergency is an official designation made by the government in response to an outbreak or potential outbreak of disease. In the US, a public health emergency (PHE) is determined by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose of that designation is to give access to special funds and resources to address the emergency.
A public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) is a larger global designation that can be determined by the World Health Organization. The WHO designated SARS-CoV-2 a PHEIC on Thursday, January 30, 2020, more than a month before declaring COVID-19 a pandemic.
Public health orders
Public health orders are directives enforced by local, state, and federal agencies that may restrict activities for individuals or groups in the interest of protecting public health. Meetings may be banned, and movement may be restricted or monitored by health authorities.
Quarantine
The word typically describes the confinement of people who appear healthy but could have the disease. In the Middle Ages, Italians adopted the legal word for a forty day period to describe the time that boats had to wait in port before docking to join the people on land, ensuring its passengers were not stricken with plague. A modern quarantine usually lasts less than forty days, but a little longer than the incubation period for a disease, just to be safe.
The isolation of some 50 million people in Wuhan, the location of the first outbreak, by the Chinese government would be best described as a cordon sanitaire. That French term came into use with the flu pandemic of 1918 and describes barricading a whole community to prevent anyone from leaving in order to curb the spread of a disease, even though that community might still contain healthy people among the sick.
SARS
SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, is a type of coronavirus similar to COVID-19 that became epidemic in 2002-2003, killing nearly 800 people, largely in China and Hong Kong.
SARS-CoV-2
The official scientific name of the coronavirus causing the pandemic disease COVID-19. It is an acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2. It had earlier been named 2019-nCoV when discovered in China last autumn.
Four other strains of coronavirus are responsible for a quarter of the common colds circulating for decades. Two more are responsible for SARS and MERS.
Self-isolation [Self-quarantine]
Self-isolation is the best way individuals can avoid spreading or becoming exposed to a disease. The principle is simply to stay at home for a minimum of fourteen days, maintaining a safe distance from members of the household and avoiding contact with people outside the household.
Social distancing
Social distancing describes courses of action designed to limit when and where people gather. As the COVID-19 outbreak has grown, various local and national health officials have prescribed social distancing measures to slow the spread of a disease. Health officials advise the public to work from home if possible, cancel meetings and mass events, and maintain about six feet of space between themselves and others. The public is urged to shelter at home except for essential activities, such as purchasing food and caring for relatives, while allowing people to go outside for a walk.
If successful, social distancing measures will help slow the pace of new infections and “flatten the curve.”
Super-spreader
Super-spreaders are persons who, unknowingly, are more likely to infect others, even though they have no symptoms of illness themselves. A “super-spreader event” is one which results in a high number of infections among attendees. For example, a Biogen conference held in late February resulted in 77 coronavirus cases in Massachusetts.
Symptomatic
Symptomatic simply means someone is showing symptoms of a particular illness or a disease. Health officials believe the potential for infection is usually greatest when coming into contact with someone who is symptomatic. The symptoms of COVID-19 include things like fever, cough, or shortness of breath. It is unknown whether the disease may be passed before symptoms appear (pre-symptomatic).
Wet market
Wet markets are open-air markets that sell live animals and fish as opposed to pre-processed, packaged meats. Animals are sold alive in these markets, and frequently slaughtered on the spot once purchased. According to the South China Morning Post, the word “wet” is a reference to the ubiquitous use of water in these markets, including the hosing down of stalls, and tubs of live fish.
Zoonosis
A zoonosis, or zoonotic disease, is a disease that can be passed between animals and humans. The new coronavirus is a zoonotic disease like rabies, malaria and MERS. COVID-19 has been linked to a wet market in Wuhan, China.
—The HEAL Team
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