Introduction
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a devastating impact on the world, with millions of people infected and hundreds of thousands of deaths. As the virus continues to spread, it is important to understand how people are getting infected and what preventive measures can be taken to reduce the risk of transmission. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most COVID-19 patients reported engaging in certain activities before becoming ill. This article will discuss the activities that the CDC has identified as being associated with an increased risk of contracting the virus.
Most COVID Patients Did This Before Getting Sick, According to the CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new data on the activities of people who tested positive for COVID-19. The data shows that most people who tested positive for the virus had engaged in certain activities before becoming ill.
The CDC found that the most common activity among those who tested positive for COVID-19 was attending a social gathering. This includes attending a party, gathering, or other social event. The CDC also found that people who tested positive for the virus were more likely to have attended a large gathering of more than 10 people.
The CDC also found that people who tested positive for COVID-19 were more likely to have visited a restaurant or bar in the 14 days before becoming ill. The CDC also found that people who tested positive for the virus were more likely to have traveled by plane, train, or bus in the 14 days before becoming ill.
The CDC also found that people who tested positive for COVID-19 were more likely to have visited a health care facility in the 14 days before becoming ill. This includes visiting a doctor’s office, hospital, or other health care facility.
The CDC also found that people who tested positive for COVID-19 were more likely to have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus in the 14 days before becoming ill. This includes being in the same household, workplace, or other close contact setting.
The CDC recommends that people take steps to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. This includes avoiding large gatherings, wearing a face covering, washing hands often, and staying at least 6 feet away from others.
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) says there’s one factor most individuals recognized with COVID-19 did earlier than they bought sick: They have been in shut contact with somebody contaminated. In line with the CDC’s official assertion, “The virus that causes COVID-19 mostly spreads between people who find themselves in shut contact with each other (inside about 6 ft, or 2 arm lengths),” the company says. “It spreads by respiratory droplets or small particles, akin to these in aerosols, produced when an contaminated particular person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes.” Learn on to see why this places you at risk, and the right way to keep away from it—and to make sure your well being and the well being of others, do not miss these Positive Indicators You have Already Had Coronavirus.
Keep away from “enclosed areas” with “insufficient air flow”
These droplets usually fall to the ground inside six ft, the place they now not pose a hazard of transmission. That is the place the six-foot social distancing guideline comes from. Nonetheless, the CDC notes, smaller particles can linger within the air and trigger an infection—what’s known as airborne transmission.
“There may be proof that beneath sure circumstances, individuals with COVID-19 appear to have contaminated others who have been greater than 6 ft away,” the company says. “These transmissions occurred inside enclosed areas that had insufficient air flow. Typically the contaminated particular person was respiratory closely, for instance whereas singing or exercising.”
Even so, the company notes that shut contact is a way more frequent mode of transmission: “Accessible information point out that it’s way more frequent for the virus that causes COVID-19 to unfold by shut contact with an individual who has COVID-19 than by airborne transmission.”
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What’s “shut contact,” precisely?
At this level, it is virtually gospel that you must preserve a protected social distance of six ft from individuals who aren’t in your family. However final fall, the CDC expanded on that guideline.
Earlier than final October, the CDC outlined a “shut contact” as somebody who spent at the very least 15 consecutive minutes inside six ft of somebody with COVID-19. The company’s new steering modified that definition to somebody who was inside six ft of an contaminated particular person for 15 or extra cumulative minutes over a 24-hour interval, ranging from two days earlier than the onset of their sickness or a optimistic check consequence.
The change was impressed by a report printed within the journal MMWR of a 20-year-old Vermont jail worker who contracted coronavirus after having 22 temporary interactions throughout an eight-hour shift with six individuals who examined optimistic for COVID-19 the next day.
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How one can survive this pandemic
As for your self, do the whole lot you’ll be able to to stop getting—and spreading—COVID-19 within the first place: Put on a face masks, get examined in the event you assume you’ve gotten coronavirus, keep away from crowds (and bars, and home events), follow social distancing, solely run important errands, wash your fingers often, disinfect incessantly touched surfaces, and to get by this pandemic at your healthiest, do not miss these 35 Locations You are Most Prone to Catch COVID.