Introduction
The virus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) is just o
Introduction
The virus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) is just one member of the coronavirus family of viruses, and not the first to have caused a pandemic. In 2003, another coronavirus caused a pandemic of a disease called SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) that resulted in about 770 deaths in 29 countries (none in the United States). This was far fewer than the global deaths from COVID-19, which were in the millions.
Discussion Question
Use your critical thinking skills to answer the following questions, which compare the two pandemics.
Most people infected with the SARS virus showed symptoms of the disease soon after they were infected. In contrast, up to half of those infected with the COVID-19 virus never showed symptoms. Explain why this difference made the COVID-19 pandemic harder to track and control than the SARS pandemic.
Consider these two measures of a disease: (1) the incubation period, which is the time between when a person shows symptoms, and (2) the latent period, which is the time between when a person becomes infected and when that person becomes infectious. For SARS, the latent period is longer than the incubation period, but the reverse (incubation period is longer than the latent period) was true for the original form of COVID-19. Explain why this difference made the COVID-19 pandemic harder to track and control than the SARS pandemic.
Consider two more measures of a disease: (1) the fatality rate, which is the percentage of people who die after being infected with a particular disease, and (2) the initial reproduction number (R), which is the average number of people that one infected person will infect. The SARS and COVID-19 viruses both had roughly the same initial R value, meaning that both diseases are about equally contagious in the absence of any population immunity or steps taken to slow the disease spread. However, SARS had a much higher fatality rate, killing an estimated 11% of infected people (and doing so fairly quickly), compared to less than 1% for COVID-19. Is it possible that because SARS was deadlier it was less likely to cause a large pandemic? Explain.
Discussion Forum Instructions
Discuss each question thoroughly and engage with your peers to better understand each topic.
Your initial post should be at least one well-developed paragraph or a video as specified by your instructor, where you deliver a well-crafted response (minimum of 200 words)
Reply to a minimum of one peer to start the discussion.
Each reply post (peer response) requires a well-developed paragraph (minimum of 100 words).
Each post (original and reply) must demonstrate your understanding of the topic.
Review the Discussion Rubric for specific details.