On February 11, 2020 the World Health Organization announced an official name for the disease that is causing the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, first identified in Wuhan China. The new name of this disease is coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In COVID-19, ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV”. There are many types of human coronaviruses including some that commonly cause mild upper-respiratory tract illnesses. COVID-19 is a new disease, caused by a novel (or new) coronavirus that has not previously been seen in humans.
Contact tracing is used by health departments to prevent the spread of infectious disease. In general, contact tracing involves identifying people who have an infectious disease (cases) and their contacts (people who may have been exposed) and working with them to interrupt disease transmission. For COVID-19, this includes asking cases to isolate and contacts to quarantine at home voluntarily. Contact tracing for COVID-19 typically involves Interviewing people with COVID-19 to identify everyone with whom they had close contact during the time they may have been infectious, Notifying contacts of their potential exposure, Referring contacts for testing, Monitoring contacts for signs and symptoms of COVID-19, and Connecting contacts with services they might need during the self-quarantine period.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19 are diseases caused by viruses belonging to a large family of coronaviruses.The viruses are related to each other genetically,but the diseases they cause are quite different.
Based on available evidence, children do not appear to be at higher risk for COVID-19 than adults. While some children and infants have been sick with COVID-19, adults make up most of the known cases to date. However, a few children have developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). Currently, information about this syndrome is limited. CDC is working with state and local health departments to learn more about MIS-C.
Create a household plan of action to help protect your health and the health of those you care about in the event of an outbreak of COVID-19 in your community: Talk with the people who need to be included in your plan, and discuss what to do if a COVID-19 outbreak occurs in your community. Plan ways to care for those who might be at greater risk for serious complications. Make sure they have access to 2 weeks of medications and supplies in case you need to stay home for prolonged periods of time. Get to know your neighbors and find out if your neighborhood has a website or social media page to stay connected. Create a list of local organizations that you and your household can contact in the event you need access to information, healthcare services, support, and resources. Create an emergency contact list of family, friends, neighbors, carpool drivers, health care providers, teachers, employers, the local public health department, and other community resources.
At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low. A small number of pets have been reported to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after contact with people with COVID-19. Pets have other types of coronaviruses that can make them sick, like canine and feline coronaviruses. These other coronaviruses cannot infect people and are not related to the current COVID-19 outbreak. However, since animals can spread other diseases to people, it’s always a good idea to practice healthy habits around pets and other animals, such as washing your hands and maintaining good hygiene. For more information on the many benefits of pet ownership, as well as staying safe and healthy around animals including pets, livestock, and wildlife, visit CDC’s Healthy Pets, Healthy People website.
CDC does not recommend disinfection of sidewalks or roads. Spraying disinfectant on sidewalks and roads is not an efficient use of disinfectant supplies and has not been proven to reduce the risk of COVID-19 to the public. The risk of spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 from these surfaces is very low and disinfection is not effective on these surfaces.