5 issues we all know and nonetheless do not learn about COVID

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By LAURAN NEERGAARD, LAURA UNGAR and MIKE STOBBE

5 years in the past, a cluster of individuals in Wuhan, China, fell sick with a virus by no means earlier than seen on this planet.

The germ didn’t have a reputation, nor did the sickness it will trigger. It wound up setting off a pandemic that uncovered deep inequities within the international well being system and reshaped public opinion about how you can management lethal rising viruses.

The virus remains to be with us, although humanity has constructed up immunity via vaccinations and infections. It’s much less lethal than it was within the pandemic’s early days and it not tops the listing of main causes of dying. However the virus is evolving, which means scientists should monitor it intently.

The place did the SARS-CoV-2 virus come from?

We don’t know. Scientists suppose the almost definitely state of affairs is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses. They suppose it then contaminated one other species, in all probability racoon canine, civet cats or bamboo rats, which in flip contaminated people dealing with or butchering these animals at a market in Wuhan, the place the primary human circumstances appeared in late November 2019.

That’s a identified pathway for illness transmission and certain triggered the primary epidemic of an identical virus, often called SARS. However this principle has not been confirmed for the virus that causes COVID-19. Wuhan is dwelling to a number of analysis labs concerned in gathering and learning coronaviruses, fueling debate over whether or not the virus as an alternative might have leaked from one.

It’s a tough scientific puzzle to crack in the very best of circumstances. The hassle has been made much more difficult by political sniping across the virus’ origins and by what worldwide researchers say are strikes by China to withhold proof that might assist.

The true origin of the pandemic will not be identified for a few years — if ever.

How many individuals died from COVID-19?

In all probability greater than 20 million. The World Well being Group has stated member nations reported greater than 7 million deaths from COVID-19 however the true dying toll is estimated to be not less than 3 times greater.

Within the U.S., a median of about 900 individuals every week have died of COVID-19 over the previous 12 months, in response to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

The coronavirus continues to have an effect on older adults probably the most. Final winter within the U.S., individuals age 75 and older accounted for about half the nation’s COVID-19 hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths, in response to the CDC.

“We can not speak about COVID up to now, because it’s nonetheless with us,” WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated.

What vaccines have been made accessible?

Scientists and vaccine-makers broke pace information growing COVID-19 vaccines which have saved tens of thousands and thousands of lives worldwide – and have been the crucial step to getting life again to regular.

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