{"id":9589,"date":"2020-03-11T15:52:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T19:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/?p=9589"},"modified":"2020-07-21T16:58:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T20:58:09","slug":"pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/news\/pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"What exactly is a pandemic?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><em>CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: As experts learn more about the novel coronavirus, news and information changes. For the latest on the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/index.html\"><span class=\"s1\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pandemic is a pretty scary word. Delete just a few letters and you\u2019re left with panic\u2014an apt description for how much of the world is feeling about the new <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/news\/human-coronavirus-myths\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">coronavirus<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that emerged late last year in Wuhan, China. The new virus, technically called SARS-CoV-2, is now threatening global health, sweeping across continents and through communities. It causes a respiratory disease dubbed coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is a pandemic?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/csr\/disease\/swineflu\/frequently_asked_questions\/pandemic\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pandemic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the widespread outbreak of a new disease that crosses borders and oceans, reports the World Health Organization (WHO). Pandemics are caused by viruses humans haven\u2019t encountered before (many emerge from animals) or bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Pandemics don\u2019t have to technically reach all corners of the world (although many do, thanks to international travel). They <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">do<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> affect many people and are generally found on two or more continents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coronaviruses are nothing new\u2014in fact, some cause the common cold. But, a novel strain has caused a global outbreak, infecting more than 100,000 people in dozens of countries, from Iran to Italy to India. If you think that sounds like a pandemic, you wouldn\u2019t be alone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Mar. 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 officially a pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pandemic vs. epidemic<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While both pandemics and epidemics involve a large number of people, there is a difference. An epidemic occurs when an infectious disease (e.g., influenza, HIV, or Ebola) spreads quickly and sometimes suddenly to a lot of people\u2014more than what might ordinarily be expected at that time and in that area, explains the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apic.org\/monthly_alerts\/outbreaks-epidemics-and-pandemics-what-you-need-to-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A pandemic, on the other hand, is a kind of supersize epidemic, but with differences. When compared to epidemics, pandemics:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Affect a greater number of people<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have a global spread<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cause more deaths<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Involve a new virus or antibiotic resistant bacteria<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And while things like cancer, obesity, and even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/news\/opioid-epidemic-statistics-legislation\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">opioid abuse<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are often called epidemics, technically they aren\u2019t as they\u2019re not caused by infections.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples of pandemics<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pandemics have been around for centuries\u2014and centuries and centuries. One of the most famous pandemics was the bubonic plague (or Black Death), which occurred in the Middle Ages and killed millions. Pandemics from the 20th century mostly centered around <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/what-is-the-flu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">flu viruses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> involving influenza A and include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1918 Spanish flu, which killed 50 million people worldwide<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Asian influenza of 1957<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Hong Kong influenza of 1968<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Notable 21st century pandemics include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This pandemic, caused by another coronavirus, started in China in 2002 and ended up infecting more than 8,000 people across Asia, Europe, and North and South Americas. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/about\/history\/sars\/timeline.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">115 people from 29 states<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were sickened with SARS.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>H1N1 virus<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This influenza virus\u2014also known as the \u201cswine flu\u201d\u2014first appeared in 2009 and had not previously been seen in animals or humans. From April 2009 to April 2010, the CDC estimates <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/news-perspective\/2012\/06\/cdc-estimate-global-h1n1-pandemic-deaths-284000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">284,000<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> people worldwide died from H1N1. The H1N1 flu pandemic is the most recently declared influenza pandemic affecting the United States.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>HIV\/AIDS<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an ongoing pandemic. In 2018, nearly 38 million people around the world were living with HIV\/AIDS.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is the coronavirus a pandemic?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As of March 2020, WHO classified COVID-19 as a global pandemic. It\u2019s definitely more worrisome than the flu virus, though, which also causes widespread disease outbreak and sometimes death but isn\u2019t (at least this season) the result of a novel virus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cCOVID-19 appears to be more virulent [than influenza], spreads easily, and is difficult to contain, since transmission occurs among people who have mild or no disease,\u201d explains <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jana Shaw, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Upstate Golisano Children&#8217;s Hospital in Syracuse, New York.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to survive a pandemic<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s no good way of predicting how a novel virus like SARS-CoV-2 may play out. Pandemics can last from months to years. Outbreaks of SARS, for example, were contained in six months. HIV\/AIDS is still ongoing. According to news reports, cases of COVID-19 in China and South Korea seem to be slowing even while it ratchets up in other parts of the world. Some are hopeful that the virus may die down, as the flu and other viruses do, as warmer weather approaches, but many health experts caution that there are just too many unknowns with this new virus, and it will take serious and consistent public health measures (and not the weather) to effectively contain it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And how might this new coronavirus outbreak be contained? Governments work to fight back pandemics by issuing quarantines (Italy is now under \u201clockdown\u201d), supplying diagnostic tests to pinpoint those who are infectious, restricting travel and developing vaccines when possible. But that all takes time and cooperation. What can you do to help <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/news\/preparing-for-coronavirus\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">protect yourself from this novel coronavirus<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the meantime?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">COVID-19 is a disease that\u2019s spread much like influenza and other infectious respiratory illnesses\u2014through the droplets infected people release when they sneeze or cough. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/community\/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fpreparing-individuals-communities.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CDC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recommends:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Staying home if you\u2019re sick and avoiding all non-essential travel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Avoiding close contact with people when possible (health officials advise staying back at least 6 feet).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keeping hands away from your nose, mouth, and eyes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sneezing or coughing into a tissue (and then throwing it away) or a sleeve when a tissue is not available.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washing your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. This is especially important after using the bathroom, before eating, or after sneezing or coughing. Use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol when soap and water aren\u2019t available.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wipe hard surfaces, such as counters, door knobs, etc., daily. The CDC recommends using regular household detergent and water and then a disinfectant. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanchemistry.com\/Novel-Coronavirus-Fighting-Products-List.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Center for Biocide Chemistries<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has a list of products that can effectively fight the coronavirus.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wear a face mask when going outdoors and around others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The better you are at avoiding the droplets, the better you\u2019ll be at avoiding infection.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: As experts learn more about the novel coronavirus, news and information changes. For the latest on the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pandemic is a pretty scary word. Delete just a few letters and you\u2019re left with panic\u2014an apt description for how much of the world is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":9544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8029,4114],"tags":[14636,8905],"coauthors":[10462],"class_list":["post-9589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-education","category-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-seasonal","franchise-healthcare-defined","wpautop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What exactly is a pandemic? - The Checkup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The World Health Organization classified the COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020. 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