Covid-19
For the whole of 2020, the entire world has been brought to a standstill by the Novel Corona virus
pandemic (Covid-19), it has brought the entire universe on its knees. From the global superpowers to
the less powerful nations in the world, this pandemic doesn’t discriminate; it has affected everybody
either directly or indirectly regardless of their backgrounds. A person gets infected through respiratory
droplets from an infected person upon coughing or sneezing, one can also get infected by touching
contaminated surfaces and later touching your nose, mouth or eyes. At the moment there is no vaccine
for the virus. However, there are various ways that preventive measures that people can adapt in order
to make sure they do not get infected. The paper will therefore, look at the origin, general symptoms,
people with co-morbidities and are vulnerable, vaccine and vaccine trials for corona virus.
The coronavirus disease is a pathogenic viral infection that is very highly transmittable and it is as a
result of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It originated in Wuhan, China
and has since spread all over the world. Studies have revealed that the disease seems to be related to
the SARS-like virus that is found in bats, and therefore bats and pangolins are assumed to be the sources
of the virus. However the exact zoonotic origin of the virus cannot yet be confirmed.
The signs and symptoms of Covid-19 include fever which is the most common one, the fever is however
varies in patients in terms of presentation and severity. For instance in some cases people with
compromised immune systems or those who are critically ill do not have fever at all. Other common
symptoms are loss of appetite, coughing, fatigue, sputum, shortness of breath, joint and muscle pains.
There are less common symptoms that include runny nose, sneezing, skin lesions and sore throat. Like in
many other infections there is always an incubation period between when a person gets infected and
when they start to show the symptoms of the disease. For Covid-19 the incubation period is five to six
days, but this period can be between one to fourteen days and in about ten percent of the cases it can
take even take longer.
People with comorbidity are those with underlying health conditions. These people are most likely to be
hospitalized and even more likely to die from severe coronavirus disease compared to healthy patients.
The underlying conditions that make those suffering from them more prone to Covid-19 consist of
diabetes and heart diseases. Actually according to a CDC report one out of five (19.5%) persons that
have comorbidity died as compared to 1.6% of healthy patients. Pre-existing conditions are also vital
when it comes to hospitalization, 45% of those with underlying conditions were hospitalized compared
to those without any such conditions which accounted to only 7.6% of those that were hospitalized. The
mortality rate for people with chronic illnesses, obesity and old age is very high and these are the most
vulnerable as far as coronavirus disease is concerned. Underlying conditions and age go hand in hand in
most instances, for example worldwide there is only 5% of people under the age of 20 that have pre-
existing conditions and a staggering 66% for those that are 70 years or older. Therefore people with
comorbidity and are older are very likely to die once they contract the coronavirus disease.
For the whole of 2020, the entire world has been brought to a standstill by the Novel Corona virus
pandemic (Covid-19), it has brought the entire universe on its knees. From the global superpowers to
the less powerful nations in the world, this pandemic doesn’t discriminate; it has affected everybody
either directly or indirectly regardless of their backgrounds. A person gets infected through respiratory
droplets from an infected person upon coughing or sneezing, one can also get infected by touching
contaminated surfaces and later touching your nose, mouth or eyes. At the moment there is no vaccine
for the virus. However, there are various ways that preventive measures that people can adapt in order
to make sure they do not get infected. The paper will therefore, look at the origin, general symptoms,
people with co-morbidities and are vulnerable, vaccine and vaccine trials for corona virus.
The coronavirus disease is a pathogenic viral infection that is very highly transmittable and it is as a
result of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It originated in Wuhan, China
and has since spread all over the world. Studies have revealed that the disease seems to be related to
the SARS-like virus that is found in bats, and therefore bats and pangolins are assumed to be the sources
of the virus. However the exact zoonotic origin of the virus cannot yet be confirmed.
The signs and symptoms of Covid-19 include fever which is the most common one, the fever is however
varies in patients in terms of presentation and severity. For instance in some cases people with
compromised immune systems or those who are critically ill do not have fever at all. Other common
symptoms are loss of appetite, coughing, fatigue, sputum, shortness of breath, joint and muscle pains.
There are less common symptoms that include runny nose, sneezing, skin lesions and sore throat. Like in
many other infections there is always an incubation period between when a person gets infected and
when they start to show the symptoms of the disease. For Covid-19 the incubation period is five to six
days, but this period can be between one to fourteen days and in about ten percent of the cases it can
take even take longer.
People with comorbidity are those with underlying health conditions. These people are most likely to be
hospitalized and even more likely to die from severe coronavirus disease compared to healthy patients.
The underlying conditions that make those suffering from them more prone to Covid-19 consist of
diabetes and heart diseases. Actually according to a CDC report one out of five (19.5%) persons that
have comorbidity died as compared to 1.6% of healthy patients. Pre-existing conditions are also vital
when it comes to hospitalization, 45% of those with underlying conditions were hospitalized compared
to those without any such conditions which accounted to only 7.6% of those that were hospitalized. The
mortality rate for people with chronic illnesses, obesity and old age is very high and these are the most
vulnerable as far as coronavirus disease is concerned. Underlying conditions and age go hand in hand in
most instances, for example worldwide there is only 5% of people under the age of 20 that have pre-
existing conditions and a staggering 66% for those that are 70 years or older. Therefore people with
comorbidity and are older are very likely to die once they contract the coronavirus disease.
