
This process is known as contact tracing. To stop the spread, health care providers need to identify who infected people have come in contact with. Identifying and isolating patients infected with COVID-19 is an important step in managing this global pandemic. Don’t touch your face unless you have cleaned your hands well.Ĭlick here to learn more about how to prepare for COVID-19, or to learn more about symptoms.If you can’t wash your hands, use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Thoroughly wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds.Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth when around others.Stand at least 6 feet away from other people.Evidence suggests that the longer and closer an infected person interacts with an uninfected person, the greater the chance of transmission.ĬOVID-19 can live in the air for several hours or on surfaces for 14 days or more. These droplets can land in the mouth or noses of other people and be inhaled into their lungs. It spreads mainly by person-to-person contact. Droplets containing the viruses are expelled when an infected person talks, coughs or sneezes. Click here for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s information on people who may be at higher risk.ĬOVID-19 is more contagious and lethal than the seasonal flu. People who have preexisting conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, underlying lung disease, and women who are pregnant are also at risk. People at a higher risk include those older than 65, those who are markedly overweight, and the immunocompromised. Though most cases of COVID-19 are mild, it has produced more serious symptoms in certain populations. Some patients with COVID-19 have also reported fatigue, muscle aches, a loss of smell ( anosmia) or taste, and up to 10% have GI-related symptoms such as diarrhea. The primary symptoms of a COVID-19 infection are fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath. But COVID-19 is a virus that has not been seen in humans before, which means that anyone can be infected and that no one has built-in immunity to it.

Usually the symptoms associated with an infection are very mild, similar to the common cold. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can infect humans or animals.
