CORONAVIRUS: THE FACTS

Facts, not fear will stop the spread of novel coronavirus

DON’T GET CONFUSED BY THE NAME

• DISEASE: coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

• VIRUS: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of an ongoing international outbreak of respiratory illness, known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Why do the virus and the disease have different names?

Viruses, and the diseases they cause, often have different names. For example, HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. People often know the name of a disease, such as measles, but not the name of the virus that causes it (rubeola).

SYMPTOMS

Much like the winter flu, the most commonly reported symptoms included fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath.

While most patients (80%) experience mild illness, a small proportion develop pneumonia which, in sever cases, can result in organ failure (3%). Early evidence shows most fatalities are patients who are immunocompromised either due to extremes of age or pre-existing conditions.

TREATMENT

There is no currently available treatment or vaccine for COVID-19. However, many of the symptoms can be treated.

RECOVERY

Most cases are mild with recovery taking on average 10 days

FORGET THE MASK, WASH YOUR HANDS

There is no evidence that masks protect people who are not already sick/infected. The most important thing you can do to protect yourself is to regularly wash your hands and to touch your face as little as possible when you are in public. Masks are better at preventing someone with a viral infection from transmitting the virus than it is at preventing a healthy person from contracting the virus. As such, masks are recommended for infected people, or healthcare professionals treating infected people, and not recommended for most healthy people. *N95 masks are the ones that provide protection from respiratory droplets.

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