Symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19)
The symptoms of coronavirus are fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. The symptoms can appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure.
How You Can Protect Yourself
According to the CDC, the virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person through respiratory droplets. Practice everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, including:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick. In fact, you should put six feet of distance between yourself and other people.
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Cover your mouth or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
According to MSDH, avoid gatherings of 250 people or more, especially if there is evidence of transmission in your county or adjacent counties. If you do attend, remember to practice the hygiene and distancing steps above.
- To prevent illness in those most vulnerable, anyone 65 or older OR with a chronic medical condition should avoid any gathering of 250 people or more (corrected from 50 earlier).
- Avoid unnecessary (non-urgent) air, bus or train travel.
- Limit visitation to older relatives or friends (especially in nursing or care homes).
- Prepare for the possibility that schools or day care centers may temporarily close.
Who is Most At Risk?
According to the CDC, the greatest risk of infection is for people in China, people who have traveled to China and for people who have had close contact with anyone diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus. There are also increasing numbers of cases that are confirmed in the United States. In addiction, higher risk individuals include:
- Older adults
- People who have serious chronic medical conditions like:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Lung disease
If you are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 because of your age or because you have a serious long-term health problem, it is extra important for you to take actions to reduce your risk of getting sick with the disease.
If you think you have been exposed to coronavirus, contact your primary care physician immediately.
A malicious website pretending to be the live map for Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by Johns Hopkins University is circulating on the internet waiting for unwitting internet users to visit the website (corona-virus-map[dot]com). Visiting the website infects the user with the AZORult trojan, an information stealing program which can exfiltrate a variety of sensitive data. It is likely being spread via infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, and social engineering. Furthermore, anyone searching the internet for a Coronavirus map could unwittingly navigate to this malicious website.
Please make sure to exercise caution when opening emails from outside organizations even if those organizations may seem reputable. The attached PDF provides additional information on this threat.