Overview of COVID-19

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in humans and many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people, such as with SARS, MERS and likely now with COVID-19 as officially named by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO has determined COVID-19 to be a global pandemic.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that can spread from person to person.  Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness with fever, cough and difficulty breathing. It was first detected in Wuhan, China and has quickly spread throughout China and is confirmed to be present in 151other countries and territories, including the United States with South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan among those with the highest rates of confirmed cases.

Posted March 16, 2020