Coronavirus
Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
CDC
is responding to a pandemic of
respiratory disease spreading from
person-to-person caused by a novel (new) coronavirus.
The disease has been named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).
This situation poses a serious public health
risk. The federal government is working closely with state, local,
tribal, and territorial partners, as well as public health partners, to respond to
this situation. COVID-19 can cause mild to
severe illness; most severe illness occurs in older adults.
Situation in U.S.
Different
parts of the country are seeing different levels of COVID-19 activity. The
United States nationally is in the initiation phase of the pandemic. States in
which community spread is occurring are in the acceleration phase. The duration
and severity of each pandemic phase can vary depending on the characteristics
of the virus and the public health response.
·
CDC
and state and local public health laboratories are testing for the virus that
causes COVID-19. View CDC’s Public
Health Laboratory Testing map.
·
All
50 states have reported cases of COVID-19 to CDC.
·
U.S.
COVID-19 cases include:
o Imported cases in travelers
o Cases among close contacts of a known
case
o Community-acquired cases where the
source of the infection is unknown.
·
Twenty-seven
U.S. states are reporting some community spread of COVID-19.
·
View latest case
counts, deaths, and a map of states
with reported cases.
On This Page
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Severity
Confirmed COVID-19 Cases Global Map
map icon
CDC Recommends
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Everyone
can do their part to help us respond to this emerging public health threat:
o On March 16, the White House announced
a program called “15 Days to Slow the Spread,”pdf iconexternal icon which
is a nationwide effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 through the implementation
of social distancing at all levels of society.
o Older people and people with severe
chronic conditions should take special
precautions because they are at higher risk of developing
serious COVID-19 illness.
o If you are a healthcare provider, use
your judgment to determine if a patient has signs and symptoms compatible with
COVID-19 and whether the
patient should be tested. Factors to consider in addition to
clinical symptoms may include:
·
Does
the patient have recent travel from an affected area?
·
Has
the patient been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 or with patients
with pneumonia of unknown cause?
·
Does
the patient reside in an area where there has been community spread of
COVID-19?
o If you are a healthcare provider or a
public health responder caring for a COVID-19 patient, please take care of
yourself and follow recommended infection
control procedures.
o People who get a fever or cough should
consider whether they might have COVID-19, depending on where they live, their
travel history or other exposures. More than
half of the U.S. is seeing some level of community spread of
COVID-19. Testing for
COVID-19 may be accessed through medical providers or public
health departments, but there is no treatment for this virus. Most people have
mild illness and are able to recover at
home without medical care.
o For people who are ill with COVID-19,
but are not sick enough to be hospitalized, please follow CDC guidance
on how to reduce the risk of spreading your illness to others.
People who are mildly ill with COVID-19 are able to isolate at
home during their illness.
o If you have been in China or another
affected area or have been exposed to someone sick with COVID-19 in the last 14
days, you will face some
limitations on your movement and activity. Please follow
instructions during this time. Your cooperation is integral to the
ongoing public health response to try to slow spread of this virus.
COVID-19 Emergence
COVID-19
is caused by a coronavirus. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that
are common in people 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 MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and now with
this new virus (named SARS-CoV-2).
The
SARS-CoV-2 virus is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. All three of
these viruses have their origins in bats. The sequences from U.S. patients are
similar to the one that China initially posted, suggesting a likely single,
recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir.
Early
on, many of the patients at the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei
Province, China had some link to a large seafood and live animal market,
suggesting animal-to-person spread. Later, a growing number of patients
reportedly did not have exposure to animal markets, indicating person-to-person
spread. Person-to-person spread was subsequently reported outside Hubei and in
countries outside China, including in the United States.
Some international destinations
now have ongoing community spread with the virus that causes
COVID-19, as do some parts of the United States. Community spread means some
people have been infected and it is not known how or where they became exposed.
Learn more about the spread of
this newly emerged coronavirus.
Severity
The
complete clinical picture with regard to COVID-19 is not fully known. Reported
illnesses have ranged from very mild (including some with no reported symptoms)
to severe, including illness resulting in death. While information so far
suggests that most COVID-19 illness is mild, a reportexternal icon out of China suggests serious
illness occurs in 16% of cases. Older people and people of all ages with severe
chronic medical conditions — like heart disease, lung disease and diabetes, for
example — seem to be at higher risk
of developing serious COVID-19 illness. A CDC Morbidity
& Mortality Weekly Report that looked at severity of disease among COVID-19
cases in the United States by age group found that 80% of
deaths were among adults 65 years and older with the highest percentage of
severe outcomes occurring in people 85 years and older.
Learn
more about the symptoms
associated with COVID-19.
COVID-19 Pandemic
A
pandemic is a global outbreak of disease. Pandemics happen when a new virus
emerges to infect people and can spread between people sustainably. Because
there is little to no pre-existing immunity against the new virus, it spreads
worldwide.
The
virus that causes COVID-19 is infecting people and spreading easily from
person-to-person. Cases have been detected in most countries worldwide and
community spread is being detected in a growing number of countries. On March
11, the COVID-19 outbreak was characterized
as a pandemic by the WHOexternal icon.
This
is the first pandemic known to be caused by the emergence of a new coronavirus.
In the past century, there have been four pandemics caused by the emergence of
novel influenza viruses. As a result, most research and guidance around
pandemics is specific to influenza, but the same premises can be applied to the
current COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemics of respiratory disease follow a certain
progression outlined in a “Pandemic
Intervals Framework.” Pandemics begin with an investigation phase,
followed by recognition, initiation, and acceleration phases. The peak of
illnesses occurs at the end of the acceleration phase, which is followed by a
deceleration phase, during which there is a decrease in illnesses. Different
countries can be in different phases of the pandemic at any point in time and
different parts of the same country can also be in different phases of a
pandemic.
There
are ongoing investigations to learn more. This is a rapidly evolving situation
and information will be updated as it becomes available.
Risk Assessment
Risk
depends on characteristics of the virus, including how well it spreads between
people; the severity of resulting illness; and the medical or other measures
available to control the impact of the virus (for example, vaccines or
medications that can treat the illness) and the relative success of these. In
the absence of vaccine or treatment medications, nonpharmaceutical
interventions become the most important response strategy.
These are community interventions that can reduce the impact of disease.
The
risk from COVID-19 to Americans can be broken down into risk of exposure versus
risk of serious illness and death.
Risk of exposure:
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The
immediate risk of being exposed to this virus is still low for most Americans,
but as the outbreak expands, that risk will increase. Cases of COVID-19 and
instances of community spread are being reported in a growing number of states.
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People
in places where ongoing community spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 has
been reported are at elevated risk of exposure, with the level of risk
dependent on the location.
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Healthcare
workers caring for patients with COVID-19 are at elevated risk of exposure.
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Close
contacts of persons with COVID-19 also are at elevated risk of exposure.
·
Travelers
returning from affected international
locations where community spread is occurring also are at
elevated risk of exposure, with level of risk dependent on where they traveled.
Risk of Severe Illness:
Early
information out of China, where COVID-19 first started, shows that some people
are at higher risk of getting very sick from this illness. This
includes:
·
Older
adults, with risk increasing by age.
·
People
who have serious chronic medical conditions like:
o Heart disease
o Diabetes
o Lung disease
CDC
has developed guidance to
help in the risk assessment and management of people with
potential exposures to COVID-19.
What May Happen
More
cases of COVID-19 are likely to be identified in the United States in the
coming days, including more instances of community spread. CDC expects that
widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the United States will occur. In the
coming months, most of the U.S. population will be exposed to this virus.
Widespread
transmission of COVID-19 could translate into large numbers of people needing
medical care at the same time. Schools, childcare centers, and workplaces, may
experience more absenteeism. Mass gatherings may be sparsely attended or
postponed. Public health and healthcare systems may become overloaded, with
elevated rates of hospitalizations and deaths. Other critical infrastructure,
such as law enforcement, emergency medical services, and sectors of the
transportation industry may also be affected. Healthcare providers and
hospitals may be overwhelmed. At this time, there is no vaccine to protect
against COVID-19 and no medications approved to treat it. Nonpharmaceutical
interventions will be the most important response strategy to
try to delay the spread of the virus and reduce the impact of disease.
CDC Response
Global
efforts at this time are focused concurrently on lessening the spread and
impact of this virus. The federal government is working closely with state,
local, tribal, and territorial partners, as well as public health partners, to
respond to this public health threat.
Highlights of CDC’s Response
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CDC
established a COVID-19 Incident Management System on January 7, 2020. On
January 21, CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center to better provide
ongoing support to the COVID-19 response.
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The
U.S. government has taken unprecedented steps with respect to travel in response to the growing
public health threat posed by this new coronavirus:
o Foreign nationals who have been in
China, Iran, the United Kingdom, Ireland and any one of the 26 European
countries in the Schengen Area within the past 14 days cannot enter the United
States.
o U.S. citizens, residents, and their
immediate family members who have been any one of those countries within in the
past 14 days can enter the United States, but they are subject to health
monitoring and possible quarantine for up to 14 days.
o People at higher risk of serious
COVID-19 illness avoid cruise
travel and non-essential air travel.
o CDC has issued additional
specific travel
guidance related to COVID-19.
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CDC
has issued clinical
guidance, including:
o Infection
Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients, including
guidance on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during a shortage.
·
CDC
also has issued guidance for other
settings, including:
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CDC
has deployed multidisciplinary teams to support state health departments in
case identification, contact tracing, clinical management, and public
communications.
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CDC
has worked with federal partners to support the safe return of Americans
overseas who have been affected by COVID-19.
This
is a picture of CDC’s laboratory test kit for severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). CDC tests are provided to U.S. state and local
public health laboratories, Department of Defense (DOD) laboratories and select
international laboratories.
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An
important part of CDC’s role during a public health emergency is to develop a
test for the pathogen and equip state and local public health labs with testing
capacity.
o CDC developed an rRT-PCR test to
diagnose COVID-19.
o As of the evening of March 17,
89 state and
local public health labs in 50 states, the District of
Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico have successfully verified and are
currently using CDC COVID-19 diagnostic tests.
o Commercial manufacturers are now
producing their own tests.
·
CDC has grown
the COVID-19 virus in cell culture, which is necessary for further
studies, including for additional genetic characterization. The cell-grown
virus was sent to NIH’s BEI Resources
Repositoryexternal icon for use by the broad
scientific community.
·
CDC
also is developing a serology test for
COVID-19.
COPIED
FROM INTERNET
