CDC Preparing for Potential Spread of COVID-19
CDC is aggressively responding to the global outbreak of COVID-19 and preparing for the potential of community spread in the United States.
Preparing first responders, healthcare providers, and health systems
- Establishing visibility across healthcare systems to understand healthcare use, particularly surges in demand for medical care and associated resources.
- Conducting extensive outreach to clinical and hospital professional organizations to ensure health system preparedness.
- Producing more than 23 guidance documents on infection control, hospital preparedness assessments, personal protective equipment (PPE) supply planning, and clinical evaluation and management (as of February 22, 2020).
- Working closely with healthcare facilities and providers to reinforce infection control principles that recognize PPE is one component of a larger set of practices that help to limit the spread of disease.
- Developing a range of respirator conservation strategies, including strategies to make supplies last longer (such as using alternative products like reusable respirators) and extending the use of disposable respirators.
- Leveraging existing telehealth tools to direct people to the right level of healthcare for their medical needs.
- Working with supply chain partners to understand supply usage, what products are available, and when more aggressive measures may need to be taken to ensure that healthcare workers at highest risk have access to PPE.
- Sharing information with stakeholders to help them recognize when to shift the strategies they are using.
Reinforcing state, territorial, and local public health readiness
- Assessing state and local readiness to implement community mitigation measures like home containment, including housing and transportation needs
- Coordinating with states to identify and mitigate gaps in readiness that will help reduce the spread of disease in the community while protecting workers, infrastructure, and institutions
- Linking public health agencies and healthcare systems to identify and mitigate stressors to the health system.
- Tracking stockpiles of PPE across jurisdictions.
- Working with state and local public health to use existing Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) funding to support COVID-19 preparedness and response activities.
- Leveraging funding mechanisms to help states accelerate preparedness activities.
Providing technical assistance and guidance to states to improve their ability to respond to the outbreak.
Supporting communities, businesses, and schools
- Creating business guidance to help the public and private sectors ensure they are able to operate with adaptations like telework and flexible sick leave policies, as well as how to respond if an employee gets sick.
- Developing guidance for childcare programs, K-12 schools, and colleges/universities to help them plan and prepare for COVID-19 and respond if there is a local outbreak in their community.
- Providing planning guides for COVID-19 that households, community- and faith-based organizations, event planners of mass gatherings, and public health communicators can use.
- Educating communities about nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) that help slow the spread of illness, like COVID-19.
Symptoms
Common human coronaviruses, including types 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1, usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold. Most people get infected with these viruses at some point in their lives. These illnesses usually only last for a short amount of time. Symptoms may include
- runny nose
- headache
- cough
- sore throat
- fever
- a general feeling of being unwell
Human coronaviruses can sometimes cause lower-respiratory tract illnesses, such as pneumonia or bronchitis. This is more common in people with cardiopulmonary disease, people with weakened immune systems, infants, and older adults.
Diagnosis
Your healthcare provider may order laboratory tests on respiratory specimens and serum (part of your blood) to detect human coronaviruses. Laboratory testing is more likely to be used if you have severe disease or are suspected of having MERS.
If you are experiencing symptoms, you should tell your healthcare provider about any recent travel or contact with animals. Most MERS-CoV infections have been reported from countries in the Arabian Peninsula. Therefore reporting a travel history or contact with camels or camel products is very important when trying to diagnose MERS.
More Coronavirus 2020 CDC info Web page
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