COVID-19 is a highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread rapidly around the world since its discovery in December 2019‎. While most people infected with COVID-19 experience no symptoms or mild to moderate respiratory symptoms, older individuals or those with underlying conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or chronic respiratory illness in particular face an elevated risk of more serious complications or even death. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020, and as of July 2020 there have been over 10 million confirmed cases and half a million deaths recorded worldwide.
This pandemic is the greatest public health crisis of the 21st century, and it is especially important to learn about because there remains much we do not yet know about this disease. For example, while we know that COVID-19 is a novel type of coronavirus - a family of viruses affecting humans as well as animals that includes the common cold - we do not fully understand what makes its symptoms so unusual. And, while we know that the main way the virus is transmitted is through droplets of saliva, there is still much we need to learn about how community spread occurs.
Unless and until an effective vaccine is discovered,‎ it will be critical for everybody to continue learning about how to reduce the spread of the COVID-19. To the extent that there have been successes in “flattening the curve” of transmission, they have been the result of individuals around the world collectively taking action in accordance with evolving public health knowledge of this unprecedented pandemic. This ongoing process of learning - and the accompanying fight against the spread of misinformation about the virus - will remain essential to protecting life for the foreseeable future.