Lesson 1: What Is COVID-19?

What is a coronavirus?

A coronavirus is part of a large group of viruses that are zoonotic, which means that they’re transmitted between animals and people.

What Is COVID-19?

Adding to the list of known coronaviruses (of which there are seven), a novel—or new—virus was identified in 2019.

This new virus is named SARS-CoV-2, and it’s not yet pinned to a specific animal source. The associated disease is called “coronavirus disease 2019,” which is abbreviated as COVID-19:

• “CO” stands for “corona”
• “VI” stands for “virus”
• “D” stands for “disease”
• “19” stands for 2019, which is the year the virus was identified