CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, OR SARS-CoV-2? What’s in a name?
COVID-19 is the name of the disease that is caused by the virus “SARS-CoV-2,” infecting the body. The 19 in COVID-19 comes from the year that SARS-CoV-2 was recognized.
The naming is similar to that of other diseases, like influenza—the name of the viruses that cause the flu.
Viruses are split into families based on what they’re made of, what they look like, how they replicate, and other factors.
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covid-19 variants
When a virus is widely circulating in a population, the likelihood of the virus mutating increases and new variants of a virus arise. The more opportunities a virus has to spread, the more opportunities it has to undergo mutations. Therefore, it is important to get a vaccine as early as they become avaliable.
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There is ongoing research to understand if the authorized vaccines provide protection against these new variants.
Updated as of July 1, 2021
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References:
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https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-info.html#Interest
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https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/
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