COVID-19 pandemic facts for kids
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as of 18 January 2023 |
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| Disease | Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) | ||||||
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| Virus strain | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) |
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| Location | Worldwide | ||||||
| Date | First case of COVID-19: November 17, 2019
Public health emergency of international concern: January 30, 2020 – May 5, 2023 (3 years, 3 months and 5 days) |
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| Confirmed cases | 775,379,850 | ||||||
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Deaths
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7,047,396 (reported) 16.6–28.3 million (estimated) |
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The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic) began with an outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other areas of Asia, and then worldwide in early 2020.
COVID-19 symptoms range from asymptomatic to deadly, but most commonly include fever, sore throat, nocturnal cough, and fatigue. Transmission of the virus is often through airborne particles.
COVID-19 vaccines were developed rapidly and deployed to the general public beginning in December 2020. Common mitigation measures during the public health emergency included travel restrictions, lockdowns, business restrictions and closures, workplace hazard controls, mask mandates, quarantines, testing systems, and contact tracing of the infected.
The pandemic caused severe social and economic disruption around the world, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. It ranks as the fifth-deadliest pandemic or epidemic in history.
Contents
Cause
SARS‑CoV‑2 belongs to the broad family of viruses known as coronaviruses. Coronaviruses infect humans, other mammals, including livestock and companion animals, and avian species.
Human coronaviruses are capable of causing illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS, fatality rate ≈34%). SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh known coronavirus to infect people, after 229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1, MERS-CoV, and the original SARS-CoV.
History
Beginning: December 2019
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In December 2019, doctors in Wuhan, China noticed something unusual: many people were getting sick with a strange new type of pneumonia (a lung infection). Doctors didn't know what was causing it, but they quickly realized they had a serious problem on their hands. They started investigating and sharing information with scientists around the world.
Scientists quickly identified the virus causing this new illness. They named it SARS-CoV-2. "SARS" stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, and "CoV" means coronavirus (a type of virus that often causes respiratory illnesses). The "2" means it's a second type of SARS-causing coronavirus—there was a previous one that caused some issues in the early 2000s.
SARS-CoV-2 is spread easily from person to person, primarily through tiny droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, talks, or even breathes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people nearby, or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. The virus could also be passed through touching surfaces contaminated with these droplets, and then touching your face before washing your hands.
January - March 2020
As more and more people in Wuhan got sick, the situation became very serious. The illness, now called COVID-19 (short for Coronavirus Disease 2019), quickly spread beyond Wuhan, across China, and then to other countries around the world. By the end of January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO)]] declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
This meant that the world needed to take action fast. Governments started implementing things like travel restrictions (limiting the number of people who could enter or leave a country) and quarantines (people who might be sick had to stay home to prevent spreading the virus). These actions are important tools used to prevent a disease from spreading rapidly.
In March 2020, the WHO officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A pandemic means a worldwide outbreak of a new disease. The virus was spreading rapidly across the globe, impacting all continents.
How did the virus affect people?
COVID-19 affected people differently. Some people had mild symptoms, like a cough or fever, and recovered quickly. Others had more severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, requiring hospitalization. Some people, unfortunately, became very sick and needed intensive care. The most vulnerable populations were the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.
Millions upon millions of people around the world were infected with COVID-19. The exact number is difficult to pinpoint because testing wasn't always available everywhere.
Sadly, many people died from COVID-19. The numbers varied by country and region and were also affected by access to healthcare.
Hospitals around the world were overwhelmed at times, as many people needed medical care.
Many countries implemented lockdowns, meaning people were asked to stay home as much as possible to limit the spread. Schools and businesses closed, and people had to find new ways to work, learn, and connect with each other.
Global Response
The pandemic led to a huge international effort. Scientists around the world raced to develop vaccines and treatments. Doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to care for the sick. Governments and organizations worked together to provide support and resources to those affected.
Vaccines
The COVID-19 vaccines are widely credited for their role in reducing the severity and death caused by COVID-19.
As of late-December 2021, more than 4.49 billion people had received one or more doses (8+ billion in total) in over 197 countries. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was the most widely used.
On 8 November 2022, Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine booster was authorized for use in adults in the United Kingdom.
On 14 November 2022, the first inhalable vaccine was introduced, developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics, in the city of Shanghai, China.
Prevention
Preventive measures to reduce the chances of infection include getting vaccinated, staying at home or spending more time outdoors, avoiding crowded places, keeping distance from others, wearing a mask in public, ventilating indoor spaces, managing potential exposure durations, washing hands with soap and water often and for at least twenty seconds, practicing good respiratory hygiene, and avoiding touching the eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
Deaths
As of 14 May 2024, COVID-19 has caused 7,047,396 confirmed deaths, and 18.2 to 33.5 million estimated deaths.
Impact
The pandemic and responses to it damaged the global economy.
Tourism collapsed due to travel restrictions, closing of public places including travel attractions, and advice of governments against travel. Airlines cancelled flights, while British regional airline Flybe collapsed. The cruise line industry was hard hit, and train stations and ferry ports closed. International mail stopped or was delayed.
The retail sector faced reductions in store hours or closures. Retailers in Europe and Latin America faced traffic declines of 40 per cent. North America and Middle East retailers saw a 50–60 per cent drop. Shopping centres faced a 33–43 per cent drop in foot traffic in March compared to February. Mall operators around the world coped by increasing sanitation, installing thermal scanners to check the temperature of shoppers, and cancelling events.
Hundreds of millions of jobs were lost. The International Labour Organization (ILO) reported that the income generated in the first nine months of 2020 from work across the world dropped by 10.7 per cent, or $3.5 trillion.
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The outbreak was blamed for panic buying, emptying groceries of essentials such as food, toilet paper, and bottled water. Panic buying stemmed from perceived threat, perceived scarcity, fear of the unknown, coping behaviour and social psychological factors (e.g. social influence and trust).
Supply shortages were due to disruption to factory and logistic operations; shortages were worsened by supply chain disruptions from factory and port shutdowns, and labour shortages.
Culture
The performing arts and cultural heritage sectors have been profoundly affected by the pandemic, impacting organisations' operations as well as individuals – both employed and independent – globally. By March 2020, across the world and to varying degrees, museums, libraries, performance venues, and other cultural institutions had been indefinitely closed with their exhibitions, events and performances cancelled or postponed. A UNESCO report estimated ten million job losses worldwide in the culture and creative industries. Some services continued through digital platforms, such as live streaming concerts or web-based arts festivals.
Environment
The pandemic and the reaction to it positively affected the environment and climate as a result of reduced human activity. During the "anthropause", fossil fuel use decreased, resource consumption declined, and waste disposal improved, generating less pollution. Planned air travel and vehicle transportation declined. In China, lockdowns and other measures resulted in a 26% decrease in coal consumption, and a 50% reduction in nitrogen oxides emissions.
A wide variety of largely mammalian species, both captive and wild, have been shown to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, with some encountering particularly fatal outcomes. In particular, both farmed and wild mink have developed symptomatic COVID-19 infections, leading to a 35–55% mortality rate in one study. Other animals, such as white-tailed deer, have not exhibited as high mortality numbers but have effectively become natural reservoirs of the virus, with large numbers of free-ranging deer infected throughout the US and Canada, including approximately 80% of Iowa's wild deer herd.
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Lifestyle changes
The pandemic triggered massive changes in behaviour, from increased Internet commerce to cultural changes in the job market. Online retailers in the US posted US$791.70 billion in sales in 2020, an increase of 32.4% from $598.02 billion from the year before. Home delivery orders increased, while indoor restaurant dining shut down due to lockdown orders or low sales. Hackers, cybercriminals, and scammers took advantage of the changes to launch new attacks. Education in some countries temporarily shifted from physical attendance to video conferencing. Massive layoffs shrank the airline, travel, hospitality, and other industries. Despite most corporations implementing measures to address COVID-19 in the workplace, a poll from Catalyst found that as many as 68% of employees around the world felt that these policies were only performative and "not genuine".
Culture and society
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on popular culture. It has been included in the narratives of ongoing pre-pandemic television series and become a central narrative in some new ones, with mixed results. Writing about the then-upcoming BBC sitcom Pandemonium on 16 December 2020, The New York Times asked, "Are we ready to laugh about Covid-19? Or rather, is there anything amusing, or recognizable in a humorous way, about life during a plague, with all of its indignities and setbacks, not to mention its rituals and rules."
Numerous films and television series have referenced or based their narrative around the pandemic, including:
- South Park: Post Covid, a 2021 animated comedy film depicting the main characters of South Park forty years after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
- Songbird, 2020 science-fiction thriller film inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, with an exaggerated twist of COVID-19 mutating into COVID-23 in 2024.
- The sixth season of Queen Sugar, a 2016 drama series focusing on a pair of siblings who are forced to cope with their new life of taking over the sugarcane farm after a loved one's death; in this season, the story is predominantly about the COVID-19 pandemic and some of the characters catching the virus, such as Charley.
- Social Distance, a 2020 television series focusing on individuals who are forced to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of quarantine, and the subsequent George Floyd protests.
See also
In Spanish: Pandemia de COVID-19 para niños
