COVID-19 is a disease caused by a new coronavirus that began spreading in December. It causes respiratory symptoms in many who are infected. Although symptoms are mild for most they can be severe for those who are:
- Over the age of 65
- with preexisting conditions
- who are immunocompromised
Why has it spread so quickly?
Although there are many coronaviruses out there this one is new (novel) and no one has immunity to it. We also do not have a vaccine for it and there is no prescribed treatment for it. The medical community has been working on a vaccine, there are some that are looking promising, but they take time to develop and distribute widely. The medical community is also working on figuring out what the best treatment is there are some treatments that have been given emergency use clearance by the FDA.
Another reason it has spread quickly is because people can spread it before having symptoms. Others with mild symptoms think they just have a cold so do not take the necessary precautions.
Since it is a new virus there are many things we do not know yet and scientist are working hard to figure them out but it takes time. We have learned a lot over the past 11 months but there is still a lot more to learn.