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As a doctor, I know that new information arrives daily on COVID-19. Keeping up to date, you can make sound decisions to help you hold and make sure our family becomes infected. Here are the latest information you need to know about COVID-19, from A to Z. You may find surprising facts and new resources. The more you know, the more you can protect yourself and yourself.Read on and ensure your health and health of others, do not miss these Without signs that you have already had coronavirus.

The elderly are more at risk of dying of COVID. Although the mortality rate is about 1% for the overall population, this increases to 3.6% for those of more than 60, 14% of more than 70 and 14.8% more than 80 years, depending on the COVID Evidence Service. Eight on 10 deaths Covid in the United States have been in adults over 65 years old.

Anyone over 50 should take serious precautions to avoid disease, especially if you have other risk factors such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease.

The CDC recommends that the elderly limit social contact as much as possible. If you decide to go out, take steps to avoid becoming infected:

• Plan your trip.
• Stay outside as far as possible.
• Keep at least six feet other people.
• Wear a mask on your nose and your mouth every time you meet other people inside, take public transport or in a place where social distance is difficult.
• Wash your hands before and after each visit.

The highest risk is to attend large gatherings where participants come from households that you do not know.

On arecent inThe lancetIn the United States, blacks are 13.4% of the population, but represent 28% to 70% of COVID deaths (depending on the state). In majority and black communities, COVID infection rates are three times more than in white communities.

The reasons are not well understood. The newspaperCurrent Cardiology Problems recently reported These baby groups tend to have higher levels of comorbidities such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Black households are more likely to be overcrowded and have poorer living conditions. Whereas there are specific biological factors that put them at higher risks are unclear.

If you are testing to Covid-19, anyone you have recently been in close contact with is contacted. They are advised to self-isolate for 14 days to avoid going to the virus. A "close contact" is a person who has been less than 15 minutes for at least 15 minutes, two days before developing symptoms or before getting a positive test result.

Contact tracing is one of the key tools for controlling the pandemic. Considering that 80% of people with CIVID-19 infection are asymptomatic, asymptomatic patients are as infectious as symptomatic patients and a person can potentially infect 406 others in 30 days, contact tracing can prevent a huge amount of disease.

Contact tracing is usually performed by trained health advisors. In the United States, the government has recognized the need to increase traceability of contacts and efforts are under way at a cost of more than $ 46 billion.

What is the overall chance to die if you are infected by Covid-19?

According tonewspaperNatureScientists have established a calculation called infection mortality rate (IFR). This is more complicated than you think. Many cases are not reported, so it is impossible to know exactly the amount of the infected population.

The current IFR is 0.5% to 1%. This means that for each 1,000 infected people, 5 to 10 will die.

This figure varies between countries and specific risk factors, including age, gender and comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

What is the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic?

• A group of local infections is called epidemic.
• An epidemic that affects a population or community is called epidemic.
• An epidemic propagates to many different countries is called pandemic.

(Here is a memory device: the pandemic word has the letter "P", like passport, because it is an epidemic that travels.)

Previous pandemics have had huge death tolls. The 1918 influenza pandemic killed 30 to 50 million people. The HIV / AIDS pandemic killed 32.7 million. It remains to be seen what the last Victory of Covid-19 will be.

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The COVID-19 pandemic can cost $ 82 billion over the next five years. This is the prediction of the risk center at the University of Cambridge Business School. In the United States alone, it will cost between $ 550 and $ 19.9 billion. Given the history of previous pandemics, economists suggest that CIVID-19 financial effects will be felt for the next 40 years.

Covid-19 affects different people in different ways. Infected people have had a wide range of symptoms reported - light symptoms with a serious illness. Symptoms may appear 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have - or have HAD-COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Tired
• Muscle or body
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Irritated throat
• Congestion or flowing nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

Look for emergency warning signs for COVID-19. If anyone shows one of these signs, immediately seek emergency medical care:

• Difficulty breathing
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• New confusion
• Inability to wake up or stay awake
• Blueish or face lips

Call your medicine provider for any other symptom that is committed to you.

A washing of the appropriate hands is mandatory to control the propagation of COVID-19. Follow theHandwashing recommendations CDC.

Quiz yourself: Here are five declarations on the washing of the hands. Are they true or false?

• As long as you use soap, no matter how long your hands.
• If you use a hand disinfecting gel, it is just as good as handwashing to eliminate germs.
• You must use very hot water to get rid of the more germs.
• There is no real need to dry your hands.
• Always use a hand dryer, not a paper towel.

The answers are all false. You must wash your hands for 15 to 30 seconds to make sure you remove most bacteria and most viruses. Soap and water are more efficient than 60% disinfectant gel recommended to the elimination of bacteria and viruses. If the water is too hot, it can dry your skin, which can crack and make it more likely to infection. When the hands are wet, they more easily transfer bacteria and viruses, so it is important to dry them. And finally: Air dryers can propagate bacteria, use paper towels instead.

Most people develop an antibody response to Covid-19 within 10 to 21 days of becoming infected. For people with lightweight infections, it can take four weeks. But sometimes, there seems to be no answer from measurable antibodies at all.

People with severe COVID-19 infection tend to produce the highest levels of antibodies. Even people with undetectable antibodies can recover from CIVID-19 infection.

Immunizers fear that the antibody response can not provide sustainable protection, which means there may be a chance that you can become reinfected in the future. However, no reported reinfections have been reported to date.

The leaders of the ministries of American justice indicate that if you intentionally respond to Covid-19, this could lead to a lawsuit under the US anti-terrorism laws. COVID is a biological agent and transmitting can be interpreted as a weapon.

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Children seem less likely to be infected by Covid-19 and when they do, the disease tends to be less severe.

The lancet recently reportedA snapshot of Covid-19 infection in children and young people in the first three weeks of April 2020 in 25 European countries. A total of 582 people under the age of 18 have been positive tested for a COVID-19 infection. The most common era was 5.80 two percent were admitted to the hospital, 8% at the ICU and 4% needed mechanical ventilation. Four children died.

The role of children in the transmission of infection is unclear. A Chinese study found zero child cases transmitting infection to an adult. Another mathematical modeling study revealed that school closures would only reduce COVID mortality by 2% to 4%. Now that schools have careful surveillance.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease characterized by fever and dry cough. The virus causes pneumonia, which can progress towards severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (Ards) and sepsis.

Once inhaled, the viral particles are transported deep into the lungs, where they cause intense inflammation. The alveoli-tiny air bags where oxygen is absorbed by the mixture of fluid mixture. This reduces your ability to take oxygen and you feel out of breath. It is dangerous that your body is low in oxygen, which affects the function of each organ. If it becomes severe, this condition is known as Ards.

Although most COVID-19 infections are light, 15% or people develop a more serious pulmonary disease and 5% require mechanical ventilation. Doctors fear that some people can develop long-term pulmonary damage after severe Covid-19 pneumonia, called pulmonary fibrosis.

Covid-19 has taken major consequences for our mental health. In arecent meta-analysisPublished in the newspaperGlobalization and healthThe authors reported the prevalence of stress (29.6%), anxiety (31.9%) and depression (33.7%) in respondents.

Mental health conditions have significant consequences for overall health. Stress has been demonstrated to significantly affect mortality. Anxiety weakens the immune system and increases the risk of acquiring the virus.

For more information, see the CDCTo manage stress Page, which has links to many websites and useful phone numbers.

To be tested for Covid-19, you will generally be asked to take a nasopharyngeal cotton (NP). If the test is positive, the test is reliable by 98%. If the test is negative, the reliability of a real negative-sense test that you are certainly not infected - is lower, between 71% and 98%. If you have symptoms and the test is negative, it may be a good idea to have the test repeated. For how to get a COVID test in the United States,Click here.

How Covid-19 virus has been created is still not definitely known. Scientists think that it is native to a Chinese wet market of a coronavirus found in bats. A theory is that the virus has been transferred from a bat to a pangoline. Pangoline may also have been infected with a coronavirus and the two viruses then shared genetic sequences. The new mutated-Covid-19-19-19 virus could have been transferred to humans by inhalation of infected respiratory droplets from animals via the food chain or urine or contaminated faecal materials. After the beginning of the Pandemic of Covid-19, the Chinese authorities ordered wet markets to close. They recently reopened but are forbidden to sell wildlife.

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There is no magic wand to make Covid-19 disappear. To overcome the virus, we must all work together and follow the government's advice, which is based on scientific opinion.

The CDC and who compiled the following recommendations:

• Avoid great gatherings of people.
• Stay at least six feet people with whom you do not live.
• You regularly wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and dry your hands after.
• If you are not at home and you can not wash your hands, use a hand disinfectant containing at least 60% alcohol.
• Use a mask to cover your nose and your mouth whenever you are somewhere where social distance is difficult (or for example in a supermarket or on public transport). A fabric mask is enough. He does not need to be a specialized hospital mask.
• Cover your face when you sneeze or tap with a handkerchief in a handkerchief and discard it in a trash.
• Try not to touch your face.
• Keep things you touch Clean: Door handles, computer mouse, kitchen worktop and light switches.
• If you feel sick, stay away from others and do not share any cooking or consumption utensils.
• If you have symptoms of COVID-19, such as a cough and a fever, or if you are in contact with anyone who has been positive tested, enter quarantine immediately.

You must quarantine if you are in contact with anyone recently tested positive for COVID-19. It means staying at home and stay away from other family members for 14 days, until you have not been infected. You should take your temperature twice a day.

If the risk of infection is high, the doctor will advise you to go in isolation. It means staying in your room and away from the rest of the family. You need separate food utensils and, if possible, to use your own bathroom.

On the basis of Wuhan, China data, which indicates that most people with light disease are recovering from COVID-19 within two weeks. For those who have a serious illness, this can be three to six weeks. About 5% of COVID patients require admission to the ICU. If you need mechanical ventilation, overall survival is about 60%.

Discharged people from the ICU face a range of physical, mental and social problems. Patients can stay out of breath and have a chronic cough. They may have difficulty swallowing. They can be weak and missing energy. Some may have developed other medical problems such as pulmonary embolis or cardiac problems. Depression, anxiety and PTSD are extremely common. All this requires rehabilitation and takes several months.

There is a growing concern that some patients with serious covids can develop pulmonary fibrosis or healing of the lungs. Additional research is needed, but pulmonary fibrosis is a serious and irreversible lung disease.

Social distancing means keeping at least a distance of six feet between you and other people. Why six feet?

Several studies have concluded that the most exhaled respiratory droplets roam less than three feet, then fall to the ground. However, further studies have shown that smaller particles can travel about six feet and cough or sneezing can browse these droplets through many additional distances. The breathing in some particles of viruses is unlikely to give an infection. Precisely how many viruses you must breathe to become infected (a.k.a. viral load) is not known.

Outside, the virus is immediately affected by the temperature of the air, the humidity, the wind and the drafts, so that it dissipates quickly. You are very unlikely to become infected outside. It is best to meet friends and family outdoors and stay outside when you can.

There is still no civid-19 cure. Researchers are desperately looking for successful treatment. More than 2,000 clinical trials are in progress.

The recovery trialrecently reported This dexamethasone, a powerful steroid, was noted to reduce deaths among those with the worst respiratory disease.

On July 4th, WHOannouncement Hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir / ritonavir tests in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were being discontinued because drugs had been noted to be ineffective.

In the United Kingdom, a trial is underway on an inhaleinterferon beta (IFN-β). It is a protein produced in the body that plays an important role in the immune response and helps prevent viral replication.

Some encouraging results are emerging for the drugremesivir. It is a broad spectrum antiviral previously used to treat hepatitis C. In patients with severe COVIDs, the first results with VedDesivir suggest faster recovery times compared to placebo.

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Daily telegraph Recently reported statistics on countries are now experiencing a second CVIV-19 infection. Some countries that came out of lock had to restore these measures.

• In Victoria, Australia, the increase coincides with the early Australian winter, a moment when seasonal influenza is usually also upward.
• In Israel, a second peak has been assigned to the exit of the lock too quickly.
• In Iran, experts believe that the second peak is due to non-compliance with the rules of social distancing.
• In Saudi Arabia, the second peak is attributed to the rich / bad fracture. The virus extends mainly in poor immigrant workers.
• In Japan, 70% of new infections are in younger people, who are attending clubs, restaurants and bars.

In the United States, the infection curve looks very different. As the initial number of cases continues to increase, it does not yet seem to have passed the first peak. There are fears for the way the United States will silence this winter if the virus extends always uncontrolled. Social distancing seems essential for the control of infection.

To date, 140 Covid-19 vaccines are at different stages of development and 13 are tested in human tests. Although many of us have pinned our hopes on a successful vaccine, we must accept that it can never be achieved.

First of all, Covid-19 is a coronavirus. The cold is caused by many coronaviruses. We know that in general, coronavirus infections do not result in sustainable immunity. This means that people can be reinfected. There has never been a successful vaccine for colds.

Second, scientists have been unable to produce a coronavirus vaccine that causes severe respiratory respiratory syndrome (SARS) and respiratory syndrome of the Middle East (seas), which caused deadly epidemics in 2003 and 2012.

R is a measure of the number of people who will be infected if a person has the virus.

• If r is 1, it means that the epidemic is still standing.
• If R is greater than 1, the virus extends faster.
• If r is less than 1, the virus is dying.

The data from the initial CIVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan, China, suggested a R of 5.7. In the United Kingdom, on June 19, the government reported a R of 0.7-0.9. At this level, viral propagation is judged under control.

In the United States, R values ​​for each state have been published on July 9th. R varies between 0.85 in Connecticut at 1.36 in Montana.

Early in the pandemic,New scientist reported that men were more likely to get a severe Covid infection and dying.

In December 2019,The lancet Describes the first 99 people admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Twice more men have been admitted as women and 75% of deaths were in men.

The exact reasons for this are still not completely clear. Nevertheless:

• The genes of the immune response are on the X chromosome. (Women have two X chromosomes and men have one.)
• In China, male smokers far exceed women smoking. Only 5% of women smoke. Smokers are more sensitive to COVID-19 infection.
• Women's bodies produce estrogen and progesterone, which can have a positive effect on the immune system.
• Men may be less hygienic than women, the authors of the study suggested.

Some risk factors make you more likely to be infected with COVID-19 and have a more serious infection.

• Age:Increase increases with years of progression. In the United Kingdom, retirees are 34 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people from the age of working. Almost a third of the deaths of British Covid have been in people living in residential care homes.
• Medical conditions:The following conditions increase your risk of contracting Covid: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiac diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), kidney disease, sickle sickness and immunocompromation.

Some other medical conditions can also be important, but the proof is less strong (eg asthma, pregnancy and smoking). For a list of these medical conditions, visitThe CDC website.

If you have risk factors on this list, follow the tips on how to protect yourself more attentively.

Look for COVID details in your area using theTracker CNN Covid Zipcode.

The CDC also publishes aCovid Data Tracker.

You can follow COVID cases around the world usingWorld.

And to cross this pandemic with your healthiest, do not miss these35 places you are most likely to catch Covid.

Dr. Deborah Lee is a medical writerDr. Fox Online Pharmacy.