The Truth About COVID-19
It’s been more than two months since the first documented case of novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Despite border closures, quarantines, and travel restrictions, the virus continues to slither its way around the world. In the US, Washington state officials are investigating a possible COVID-19 outbreak at a long-term nursing facility where two people tested positive for the virus and dozens more are showing symptoms of the disease. Experts now believe the coronavirus may have been spreading in Washington, silently, for nearly six weeks. Infected patients with no known exposure to the virus are popping up in countries thousands of miles away from the epicenter, dotting the globe and threatening a pandemic.
As fear pushes the stock market down and purchases of masks go up, scientists are in a race for answers.
COVID-19 has now been detected on every continent except Antarctica.
COVID-19 is not the same as “the common cold”, even though both are in the coronavirus family. Comparing the two is like comparing apples to oranges, or more specifically, like comparing the common cold to HIV or herpes or Ebola or SARS or MERS or COVID-19 or influenza. All are viruses. However, they all act on our body in very different ways. We can learn from each one by comparing the infectious rate, how the virus replicates, transmission, and mortality rate. It’s…
