Covid-19 and everything about it

You have probably heard of the current epidemic that has been going on, COVID-19. This is a virus that makes you very ill and could even kill you if the symptoms are severe, however is that really the case? What more is there about COVID-19 and how did it even start to begin with? In this text we will talk all about COVID-19, what its history is and how you can prevent yourself from getting the virus.

How is all started

The virus itself started in Wuhan, China through bats that spreaded it all around the area and slowly the world. With the help of the World Health Organization and the People's Republic of China it has been discovered that the cause of some wild bats that are very likely to have spread through humans is simply by its presence. While there are also other theories about the cause of the spread. One of the theories is that the virus started spreading because of the bats being dead and sold in the markets of Wuhan while having the virus inside of them which is then bought and brought to their homes. While other theories say that it was a mistake the scientists made after experimenting with chemicals and bacterias which caused it to spread around the laboratory and so into the outside world. Eitherway, the spreading started in Wuhan China, which the first infected were 41 people that lived in the area where it was sold. This started on the 8th of December 2019. Because of the spread and the export of these certain animals and people traveling all around the world, it eventually got also onto Milan Italy a few days later on the 18th of December 2019. Later throughout the month, the infection became now a human-to-human transmission, this means that now the infection can be spread through humans instead of just the animals that caused it.

Covid-19 and its development

The cases of corona really increased within the month by more than 200 people. This made people really weary and even caused the Wuhan Central Hospital to alert other hospitals because of the results that doctors have discovered of a pneumonia cluster that seemed dangerous. However despite the alert, these doctors were arrested for spreading false rumors and are now detained. At last, the first public announcement was made by the Wuhan Health Commission that a outbreak has been happening with 27 cases. This was enough to start an investigation into the Covid outbreak. Throughout the months after December, the number of cases in China keeps increasing fast and doubles around every seven days. This worsened after the Chinese New Year migration happened in which, Chinese citizens that live in the big cities go to their family that most likely live elsewhere like more in the west of China where the farms are. For example, in mid January the cases would count 140 new cases every day. With this information the situation has worsened badly and therefore the World Health Organization has declared this outbreak to be pandemic potential and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Another reason for this declaration is because the other country that got infected is Italy and one of the ways that the infection spread here is through Chinese tourists that were visiting the country which is very alarming. From there almost the whole world started to get infected while other countries like the United States started to have even more infected causes than the country where it started, China. The reason for this is that many Europeans visited New York that had the infection with them and the infection spread like wildfire all around the streets for example. The total number of infected people was around 5 million which was noted on the 1st of October 2021.

Symptoms of the virus

The Symptoms can vary for each sex and for the amount of infection that you have inside of your body. The most common symptoms are having to cough a lot, getting a major fever and having lost your smell and taste. The symptoms that are less common are getting headaches, having difficulty breathing through the nose, having a runny nose, muscle pain, having a sore throat, getting diarrhea, eye irritation and even your toes are swelling and/or turning purple. The most severe symptom is having a lot of difficulty breathing, constant pain and pressure on the chest, confusion, not being able to stay awake or even getting a different color of skin. These symptoms are grouped in three, the first group of symptoms all have to do with breathing and having irritations with your eyes. The second group has to mostly do with having soreness and pain on the body and specifically the body. The third group of symptoms have to do with the digestive symptoms like having diarrhea, having to vomit and having abdominal pain. Of all the infected people, 81% have the more common and mild symptoms, 14% have the more severe symptoms and the other 5% have the critical symptoms that require medical attention. However these symptoms are not instantly given to someone, to get these symptoms from the virus, it usually takes up to 4 days to get the side effects of the infection. After these 4 days iit can take another 2 to 4 days for the symptoms to either develop worse or to reduce and disappear.

How to prevent getting the virus

In order to go against the virus, there are a few things that you can do in order to be protected. The first thing that can be done is to take a vaccine. Despite the controversies that go around the vaccines. It has been proven that taking the vaccine does make you immune for some amount of time. A face mask is another way to go against the virus by protecting yourself. The face mask can shield you from getting infected through the lungs by possibly breathing in the virus or spreading the virus if you have been infected by masking your breathing and causing your breath to not go loose. Avoiding crowded spaces can also reduce the risk of getting infected. Since people could carry the virus, avoiding places where there are alot of people can reduce the risk. At last, having good hygiene can kill possible bacteria and so it prevents you from getting infected. If you keep yourself clean like washing your hands or taking good showers, then certain bacterias can't reach your body which also reduces the risk of getting the virus if you were to shake hands for example. It is also recommended to avoid shaking hands or any physical touch with strangers, since this is one of the reasons that the virus gets spread around and it can spread bacteria on to your body in general. Besides cleaning yourself, it is also recommended to clean your workspaces or places that you usually stay in, especially things that commonly get used or touched. Also this prevents possible spreading of bacteria and the virus if you carry it in you.