Background on the COVID-19 Virus
What is COVID-19
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered strain of coronavirus. The official name for COVID-19 is the sars-cov-2 virus. People infected by the virus often experience a wide range of symptoms. Some of the most common symptoms include respiratory problems, high fevers, body aches, chills, fatigue, headaches, and new lost of taste or smell. These symptoms can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks and even become fatal in some cases. COVID-19 is known to be much more deadly to elderly people as well as people with preexisting health conditions.
Discovering COVID-19
The COVID-19 Virus was first discovered in Wuhan, China in December of 2019. It was quick to spread because of its ability to infect people asymptomatically, so people might not have even known they were carriers of the virus until they had already infected countless people. The first confirmed COVID case in the US was identified in January of 2020. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning, and by March 2020 COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. A pandemic is the largest on the viral spread scale, so this was a significant landmark to pass for the virus, especially in such a short amount of time.
Preventing the Spread of COVID-19
Since the pandemic hit, countless precautions have been put in place to help prevent spread of the virus. Some of these precautions include...
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Federal mask mandate for public places
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Enforcement of six foot social distancing
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Limit on public gatherings
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Travel bans and restrictions
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Safety guidelines put in place for businesses and schools
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