CORONAVIRUS – LEXICON Community Spread
When a disease is sustained and easily spread throughout a community.
Contact Tracing
The process of identification of anyone who may have come into contact with an Infected person.
Coronavirus
Any of a family (Coronaviridae) of single-stranded RNA viruses that have a lipid envelope studded with club-shaped projections, infect birds and many mammals including humans, and include the causative agents of MERS, SARS, and COVID-19
COVID-19
A new disease that can cause respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever (39 C / 101.8 F), and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing.
Flattening the Curve
Slowing the rate of infection of a disease.
Isolation
Separating infected and/or contagious people from those who are uninfected
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
Is viral respiratory illness that is new to humans. It was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to several other countries, including the United States. Most people infected with MERS-CoV developed severe respiratory illness, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath.
Outbreak
A sudden or violent start of something unwelcome, such as disease, war, etc.
Pandemic
A disease prevalent over a whole country or the world
Person to Person Transmission
Transmission of a disease that occurs when an infected person touches or exchanges body fluids with someone else
Pneumonia
Lung inflammation caused by bacterial or viral infection, in which the air sacs fill with pus and may become solid. Inflammation may affect both lungs (double pneumonia), one lung (single pneumonia), or only certain lobes (lobar pneumonia).
Public Health Emergency of International Concern
An extraordinary event which is determined, as provided in these Regulations: (i) to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease; and (ii) to potentially require a coordinated international response. This definition implies a situation that: is serious, unusual or unexpected; carries implications for public health beyond the affected State’s national border; and may require immediate international action.
Quarantine
A state, period, or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
A contagious and sometimes fatal respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus. SARS appeared in 2002 in China. It spread worldwide within a few months, though it was quickly contained. SARS is a virus transmitted through droplets that enter the air when someone with the disease coughs, sneezes, or talks. No known transmission has occurred since 2004.
SARS-CoV-2
The disease causing agent of the COVID-19 disease.
Social Distancing
Social distancing is a term applied to certain actions that are taken by Public Health officials to stop or slow down the spread of a highly contagious disease.
State of Emergency
A situation in which a government is empowered to perform actions or impose policies that it would normally not be permitted to undertake.
Zoonotic Infection
An infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites that spread from non-human animals (usually vertebrates) to humans.
68 Delaware Journal of Public Health – April 2020
