Match Each Term to Its Definition

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a boundless amount of unfamiliar terms and phrases into our everyday lives. Though they can be confusing, information technology’s important to have an accurate understanding of their meanings, especially if we desire our communities to navigate the pandemic safely. Beneath, we’ve rounded up some of the near common COVID-19-related terms — from how the virus spreads in communities, to treatment and examination options to how to help ho-hum the spread. Without a doubt, familiarizing yourself with this list is the first step to ensuring a safer tomorrow for yourself and others.

• Coronavirus:
  There are many types of coronaviruses, all of which comprise RNA and have crown-shaped spikes on their surfaces. Different types of these viruses can cause mild disease like the mutual common cold, or more severe respiratory infections.
• SARS-CoV-2 or the “novel coronavirus”: These are both terms for the coronavirus that has acquired the COVID-19 pandemic. Because this particular virus was novel to humans, there was no existing immunity or ability to fight off the virus’ effects.
• COVID-19:
  the proper noun of the illness that SARS-COV-2 can crusade. COVID-19 is a shortened version of “coronavirus disease 2019.”

• Zoonotic: A description of a affliction that is able to spread from animals to humans. Co-ordinate to the Heart for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), zoonotic diseases are relatively mutual — six out of 10 of all known diseases are zoonotic.
• Outbreak: A localized uptick in cases. Outbreaks are often traceable to specific events like concerts, or locations like day care centers or nursing homes.
• Epidemic: A larger than expected surge in the number of cases of a illness or illness in a particular geographic region or area.
• Pandemic: An epidemic that has spread beyond geographical or national boundaries and has affected a large number of people on a global scale. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Transmission- & Spread-Related Terms

• Airborne Manual: A illness or illness that tin be spread from person to person through the air. Airborne diseases tend to be more contagious than those requiring physical contact.
• Aerosol:
  A tiny particle of respiratory fluid that contains viral material and can remain in the air for a flow of time.
• Droplet:
  A small drop of fluid. Droplets containing a virus can exist expelled when an infected person talks, breathes, sneezes, or coughs.

• R0/’R-naught’: A number indicating the average number of people that will catch a disease or illness from ane infected person. R0 is used equally a measure of how contagious a disease is. The R0 for COVID-19 transmission in the United States varies past region.
• 
  Customs Transmission:
  This refers to cases of infection that cannot be directly linked to known travel of an individual or a previously identified positive instance.
• 
  Asymptomatic: When one is displaying no symptoms or outward signs of having a disease throughout the form of infection. Evidence suggests that individuals who are asymptomatic tin yet transmit the virus to others.
• 
  Presymptomatic/Incubation Menstruation: When one is not even so displaying symptoms due to an early stage of infection. The virus tin still be spread during this time period.
• 
  Super-spreader:
  A person who transmits a disease or disease to an unusually high number of people.

Prevention- & Mitigation-Related Terms

• Social and Physical Distancing:
  The practice of reducing shut person-to-person contact in a customs in order to decrease the transmission charge per unit of a virus or illness. Social distancing measures include instructions to piece of work from home, plexiglass barriers, or vi-foot markers in public spaces.
• Contact Tracing:
  The process of public health officials identifying individuals who accept been infected with or exposed to a viral illness in society to farther mitigate and manage the virus’s spread within a community.
• Flattening the Curve:
  The “curve” here refers to the shape on graphs similar number of cases or hospitalizations. ‘Flattening’ these curves involves taking steps like sheltering in place, social distancing, and self quarantining in order to prevent surges of patients that need hospitalization and treatment all at one time.

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): PPE refers to clothing or materials that are especially made to act as a barrier against exposure or infection. Examples of PPE include face up shields, masks, goggles, gowns and gloves.
• 
  N95:
  Likewise called a respirator, this special type of mask covers the nose and oral fissure and is manufactured to safely filter particles that tin can cause COVID-nineteen when fit-tested and used correctly. These masks are typically reserved for healthcare workers or those coming in close contact with active infection, and are non recommended for employ in public.
• Quarantine/Self-Quarantine: A quarantine is a menses of isolation post-obit exposure or potential exposure to a virus, in lodge to foreclose passing the virus to others. Individuals who have been potentially exposed to COVID-19 are brash to quarantine for at least 10 days following the exposure.
• 
  Isolation/Self-Isolation: When an private has a confirmed or suspected case of an illness or virus, they should isolate. Isolation differs from quarantine in that quarantine occurs following potential exposure to an illness, and isolation occurs after an individual has been infected.
• 
  Vaccine: Vaccinations introduce a small amount of inactivated or weakened virus so that the body tin produce antibodies that piece of work by recognizing the virus and preventing it from causing affliction in the future. Vaccines are preventative measures that can increase immunity on a large calibration.

Testing- & Handling-Related Terms:

• Molecular or Viral Examination:
  A test used to make up one’s mind if a person currently has an agile infection from SARS-CoV-ii. Viral tests work by analyzing a sample of saliva or mucus in order to determine whether the virus is nowadays.
• Antibody Test:
  A test that detects whether a person has antibodies for a specific virus or illness. Antibodies are proteins created past the body’s immune system that gainsay a specific virus or illness. These tests are not used to pick upward on active infections.

• 
  Remdesivir (Veklury): An antiviral drug that has been approved past the FDA for treatment of COVID-19. Remdesivir works past preventing replication of RNA within viral particles so that the virus cannot multiply and spread within the torso as easily.
• 
  Dexamethasone: A corticosteroid with anti inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects, often used to combat respiratory disease. Dexamethasone is recommended as a treatment for moderate to severe COVID-xix to work confronting tissue harm in the lungs.
• 
  Ventilator:
  When a patient isn’t able to exhale on their own, a ventilator tin can exist used in the hospital to help them exhale. A tube is inserted into the patient’s windpipe through the mouth and a machine works to supply oxygen directly to the patient’s lungs.

Resource Links:

• Coronavirus (COVID-xix) Outbreak Glossary via Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
• COVID-nineteen Glossary via Yale Medicine
• “Zoonotic Diseases” via Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
• “Testing Overview” via Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
• “Information for Clinicians on Investigational Therapeutics for Patients with COVID-19” via Centers for Disease Command & Prevention (CDC)
• “Science Brief: SARS-CoV-2 and Potential Airborne Transmission” via Centers for Illness Control & Prevention (CDC)
• “Final report confirms Remdesivir benefits for COVID-nineteen” via National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• “Is Dexamethasone the COVID-19 Cure We’ve Been Looking For?” via Reference
• “What Is Contact Tracing, and Why Is It Important During the COVID-nineteen Pandemic?” via Ask
• “COVID-19 Terms: The Departure Between Social Distancing, Physical Distancing & More” via Reference