Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Brief History and Potential Exposure Risks

In late 2019, health authorities in Wuhan, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin. New cases began to rapidly spread and a novel (new) coronavirus was identified as the cause of the outbreak. The virus has been named SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes is known as coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

By January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The next day, the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary declared a public health emergency (PHE) for the United States.

The virus, which can be fatal, spread quickly in 2020 to infect people in countries across the globe. Symptoms for those infected range from fever and cough to shortness of breath, with reports of everything from mild to severe illnesses.

While this specific virus is new to scientists, it is believed to spread like similar coronaviruses. This would include person-to-person spread and the ability to spread from contact with infected surfaces or objects.

While the medical community works to develop a vaccine in 2020, the CDC says that the best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus. The agency recommends that people take everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases, including avoiding close contact with people who are sick; avoiding touching one’s eyes, nose and mouth; staying home when sick; covering coughs and sneezes; cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe; and thoroughly washing one’s hands.

Regarding workers in the U.S. that could come in contact with the virus, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) posted information in early 2020 that exposure risks may be elevated for some workers who interact with potentially infected travelers from abroad, including those involved in:
• Healthcare
• Deathcare
• Laboratories
• Airline operations
• Border protection
• Solid waste and wastewater management
• Travel to areas where the virus is spreading

These are just a few things to know about COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 and potential exposure risks. To learn more about this or other infection control, occupational, environmental, health or safety issues, please visit the websites shown below.

[sanchezcidluisa]

I think it is very important to talk about this topic, not only how to avoid getting sick but also its history, unfortunately many people do not believe that the disease is true, they even think that it is an invention with a rather shady purpose. .
The presentation is great, the images are of good quality and it is expressed clearly and concisely, I am sorry to be in such a dangerous situation, but I like that people like you make videos of this type, informative!

[President_Shin]

Things like this don’t just pop up, let’s just have common sense on that.

[rodriguezgonzalezarath]

It is an excellent video since it is about a current issue where it talks about how it originated to how to prevent it. It is a virus that to this day continues to affect all of us. This type of video is very important so that more and more people become aware of the situation we are going through and in this way be able to control this disease

[FreakNZMedia]

Informative but misleading. I thought this was about the origin of the virus.