To slow the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, public health experts are telling us to stay home and practice “social distancing.” Think social distancing doesn’t matter if you’re young and healthy? Think again. It’s not about you, it’s about protecting the community. And in this Above the Noise video, we get into why it’s so important, even if you’re not in a high risk category.
TEACHERS: Get your students in the discussion on KQED Learn, a safe place for middle and high school students to investigate controversial topics and share their voices.
KQED Learn: htts://learn.kqed.org/discussions/60
Why is the coronavirus or COVID-19 so dangerous?
Coronavirus is a virus that causes the disease COVID-19. And the major symptoms of COVID-19 include high fevers, dry cough and shortness of breath. About 80% of the time, the symptoms are pretty mild: fever, dry cough, and some aches and pains. But it can get pretty deadly and devastating: about 14% of cases require medical care, and about 5% of the time it can be critical or deadly, landing people in the ICU. And it’s pretty contagious. According to the CDC the most common way to get it is if germs from an infected person’s sneeze or cough lands in your mouth, nose or you breath it in through your lungs. But you could also get by touching your mouth, nose or eyes after touching contaminated surfaces.
What is social distancing?
Basically, social distancing is the idea of keeping people physically away from each other in order to help slow the spread of a disease. Stay home when you can, avoid public transit and crowds, and only go out when it’s necessary. It means no parties, or group hang outs, no sharing drinks, no hugging or hand shaking–you’re supposed to stay 6ft away from each other. Some places, like San Francisco’s Bay Area have gone a step further and issued “shelter in place” orders, which basically means you need to stay home, unless it’s absolutely necessary to go out, like to get groceries or medicine. This translates into lots of people working from home or doing virtual school, with the exception of people who work in “essential services” like medical personnel, grocery store employees, cops, garbage collectors, etc.