What is the Center for Disease Control? - The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, commonly referred to as the CDC, is the U.S. government agency responsible for tracking and investigating public health-related issues and trends.
QUESTIONS: What is the Center for Disease Control - When an abnormally large amount of people in a community, state, or country contract an infectious disease at more or less the same time, it is called an epidemic.
What is a Novel Coronavirus? - Coronaviruses are a category of viruses that affect the respiratory systems of mammals.
QUESTIONS: What is a Novel Coronavirus? - The novel coronavirus COVID-19 first appeared in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. The CO stands for corona, VI stands for virus, and D stands for disease. The 19 represents when the virus first appeared.
What is the Coronavirus COVID-19? - COVID-19 is a major concern because of its ability to rapidly spread and infect people. Scientists believe it is able to do this because the spike protein non the surface of the virus that fits and locks into a receptor in human cells.
QUESTIONS: What is the Coronavirus COVID-19? - The unique structure of COVID-19, as opposed to SARS, makes it 10 times more likely to bind to the surface of a human organ.
What is the Source of the Virus and How Does It Spread? - The illnesses caused by coronaviruses range in severity from fairly mild (the common cold) to quite severe (the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Saudi Arabia in 2002 and 2012 respectively).
QUESTIONS: What is the Source of the Virus and How Does It Spread? - Why has COVID-19 been so successful in spreading and attacking its human hosts?
What Are the Symptoms of COVID-19? - People who are over 60 or who have underlying health conditions are more likely to develop severe symptoms that do require medical intervention.
QUESTIONS: What Are the Symptoms of COVID-19? - Some people become infected with COVID-19 and don't show any symptoms at all, a state known as being asymptomatic.
How Does The COVID-19 Coronavirus Lead to Major Health Problems? - The people most vulnerable to having a severe case of the respiratory illness are those over age 60 and those who have underlying illnesses, especially those who are immunosuppressed.
QUESTIONS: How Does The COVID-19 Coronavirus Lead to Major Health Problems? - The older population is more at risk for two reasons. First, they often have underlying health conditions that makes it more difficult for their bodies to resist or fight off the disease.
Who is at Higher Risk with COVID 19 and Why? - Older people also tend to experience more inflammation in the early stages of COVID-19, which can set up the possibility of COVID-19 causing other illnesses like pneumonia.
QUESTIONS: Who is at Higher Risk with COVID 19 and Why? - The vulnerability of these populations, however, is not particular to COVID-19. These same groups of people have increased susceptibility to and are more likely to develop complications from any infectious disease.
How to Keep from Catching COVID-19 - It is also important to not touch your face when out in public or with unwashed hands. This includes touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, as all of these can be entry points for the virus.
QUESTIONS: How to Keep from Catching COVID-19 - How close do you have to be to someone in order to catch COVID-19 from them?
What Should You Do If You Come in Close Contact with Someone that has COVID 19? - If you come into close contact with someone who has COVID-19, it could be up to 14 days before you begin to show symptoms yourself, as the virus has a long incubation period.
QUESTIONS: What Should You Do If You Come in Close Contact with Someone that has COVID 19? - If you think that you have COVID-19, do not go out in public.
What Should You Do If You Get COVID 19? - If you think that you have COVID-19, the most important thing that you can do is to stay home.
QUESTIONS: What Should You Do If You Get COVID 19? - If you need to leave your home for medical care, call first. Do not go to any medical facility, including the emergency room without calling ahead.
Do Soap and Water and Hand Sanitizer Kill the Virus? - The primary and most important thing you can do to keep from catching COVID-19 is to wash your hands frequently. While soap and water do not actually kill germs, they do remove them from your hands.
QUESTIONS: Do Soap and Water and Hand Sanitizer Kill the Virus? - Many people do not wash their hands for as long as they should.
Can You Get COVID 19 from your Pets? - At this time there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted between pets and their owners.
QUESTIONS: Can You Get COVID 19 from your Pets? - What is the reason for the CDC’s recommendations regarding caring for pets if you are sick with COVID-19?
What is Social Distancing? - Social distancing is a technique that is implemented in order to slow or stop the spread of a very contagious disease.
QUESTIONS: What is Social Distancing? - Widespread social distancing measures include preventing large groups of people from coming together, closing buildings, and canceling events.
What Is Critical Infrastructure? - The government agency responsible for protecting critical infrastructure in the United States is called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
QUESTIONS: What Is Critical Infrastructure? - How many critical infrastructure centers are there in the U.S.?
What Are Essential Businesses? - An essential business is one to which people require continued access in order to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, hygiene, medical care, etc.
QUESTIONS: What Are Essential Businesses? - Non-essential businesses are those geared more towards recreation and entertainment. Lets explore what makes something essential.
The Worst Pandemic in History - When an epidemic grows so much that people in multiple countries and across multiple continents get sick, it is called a pandemic.
QUESTIONS: The Worst Pandemic in History - Another notable pandemic was the Spanish Flu, which killed between 50 million and 100 million people between 1918 and 1920 and made another 500 million or so sick.
What Are Stay at Home Orders? - A stay at home order does not prevent individuals who work for an essential business from going to work.
QUESTIONS: What Are Stay at Home Orders? - A stay at home order is not the same as a shelter in place order. One allows some level of movement.
The Stock Market Reacts to COVID-19 - In addition to affecting the public health, limiting social interaction, and shutting down non-essential businesses in many U.S. states, the COVID-19 pandemic has also had a profound economic impact on the country.
QUESTIONS: The Stock Market Reacts to COVID-19 - The stock market declines are the result of the uncertainty taking place all over the world as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen.
What is Telecommuting? - Telecommuting is possible in many businesses because of the nature of commerce today.
QUESTIONS: What is Telecommuting? - A Gallup survey in 2019 found that 43% of Americans work from home at least some of the time.
How Has the Coronavirus Changed the World Permanently? - Some believe that the sudden increase in virtual, as opposed to personal, interaction may be here to stay, either as a result of increased efficiencies realized by businesses or as a result of a lingering caution amongst individuals in participating in in-person interactions.
QUESTIONS: How Has the Coronavirus Changed the World Permanently? - Some believe that the pandemic will drive positive social change others say it has created a bigger divide. This makes for a good class discussion.