From ‘stay at home’ to ‘super spreader,’ here are 9 coronavirus terms you should know

As coronavirus continues to spread, the conversation is changing rapidly.

New terms are being thrown around every day, and it’s hard to keep up with the terminology. Here are a handful of coronavirus terms and questions you should know.

What’s a stay-at-home order?

More than 20 states have issued stay-at-home orders, according to CNN. Countless individual counties and cities have also issued their own stay-at-home orders.

The goal is to help slow the spread of coronavirus by encouraging people to stay at home and not gather in groups.

Typically, under stay-at-home orders, people can go out for essential services like buying groceries or to the doctor. All non-essential tasks, though, are discouraged.

California was the first state to issue a statewide stay-at-home order on March 19, according to The Sacramento Bee.

“It’s time for all of us to recognize, as individuals and as a community, we need to do more to meet this moment,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference when he announced the order.

Now 21 states have stay-at-home orders, according to CNN.

How is stay at home different from shelter in place?

The words “shelter in place” can evoke panic in many people, according to The Cut. Overall, a shelter-in-place order and a stay-at-home order are nearly the same.

Traditionally, local officials have used shelter-in-place orders during emergencies like mass shootings or natural disasters, Wired reported. They prohibit people from leaving their homes to work unless it is part of an “essential business.”

What’s considered an essential business?

Essential businesses change depending on what your state’s government deems essential and non-essential.

Under many stay-at-home orders, non-essential businesses are forced to shut down. Those deemed essential, however, can continue to operate.

Grocery stores and supermarkets are considered essential businesses, as are big-box stores, pharmacies, convenience and discount stores, garbage collection and health care providers, according to McClatchy News.

In some states, liquor stores and dispensaries are also allowed to stay open.

Anything that is “essential” to supplying the state is usually the standard, McClatchy News reported. That can include construction companies, home and auto repair businesses, the news industry, shipping companies, laundromats, insurance companies and pet stores.

What’s a respirator?

A respirator is a “personal protective device that is worn on the face or head and covers at least the nose and mouth,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is used to reduce the risk of inhaling airborne particles, gases or vapor, the CDC said.

It is vital for health care workers to stay healthy, but it must be worn properly, NPR reported.

It’s recommended that health care workers wear N95 respirators, which fit more tightly around the nose and mouth than typical medical and surgical masks, Dictionary.com said.

So what’s a ventilator then?

A ventilator is a machine that helps patients breathe by pumping oxygen into the lungs and removing carbon dioxide through a tube, according to Dictionary.com.

“Sometimes the ventilators are called respirators, because sometimes respirator refers to various machines that produce artificial respiration—like ventilators,” Dictionary.com said. “That gets confusing, and it’s vital to be clear communicators and observe technical distinctions during emergencies.”

COVID-19 affects the respiratory system, and the number of people who need a ventilator to breathe has exploded, according to NBC News. Many hospitals fear they will run out soon.

“This is a disease that people are dying of because of respiratory illness,” Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer at the American Lung Association, told NBC News. “They’re not dying because their heart fails. They’re not dying of shock. They’re dying because they just can’t get oxygen to their bloodstream, and that makes other organs fail, as well.”

What is chloroquine?

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are prescription drugs that have been used to fight malaria and some inflammatory conditions, according to the CDC.

President Donald Trump has said hydroxychloroquine could be a treatment for coronavirus, according to Bloomberg. The CDC says both drugs have “in-vitro activity against” coronavirus.

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are recommended for treatment of COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized, according to the CDC.

“A study in China reported that chloroquine treatment of COVID-19 patients had clinical and virologic benefit versus a comparison group, and chloroquine was added as a recommended antiviral for treatment of COVID-19 in China,” the CDC said.

According to Bloomberg, though, a report by the Journal of Zhejiang University in China showed that patients who tried the medicine didn’t fight off coronavirus more than those who didn’t.

What is contact tracing?

Contact tracing is finding everyone who comes in direct contact with someone who is sick, according to the CDC.

“Even one missed contact can keep the outbreak going,” the CDC said.

It’s a key part of coronavirus containment strategy in the U.S., according to CNN. It’s the process of finding who’s sick, isolating them and tracing everyone that person came in contact with. Then those people are to quarantine as well, the news outlet reported.

“We’re seeing community spread, and whenever you see community spread, you can do contact tracing, but [with] more community spread it becomes logistically more difficult,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on “Meet the Press.”

What is community spread?

Community spread is when people have been infected with the virus in an area, including people who aren’t sure how they got it, according to the CDC.

In many states, community spread is happening and accelerating the rate at which the coronavirus spreads. According to the CDC, 27 states reported community spread of COVID-19.

“Different parts of the country are seeing different levels of COVID-19 activity,” the CDC said. “The United States nationally is in the initiation phase of the pandemic. States in which community spread is occurring are in the acceleration phase.”

What is a coronavirus super spreader?

A “super spreader” is a term for when someone will “disproportionately infect a large number of people with a virus,” CNBC reported. They spread the virus more efficiently than people usually do, the news outlet reported.

“We know from our experience with many infectious diseases that a small group of individuals often are responsible for most transmission events,” Manisha Juthani, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious disease specialist, told Health. “Some people are able to infect others more easily. These individuals are called super-spreaders.”

There have been several reports of “super spreaders” in the U.S. and across the world.

This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 6:10 PM with the headline "From ‘stay at home’ to ‘super spreader,’ here are 9 coronavirus terms you should know."