Question: What is covid 19 made of and how can it affect you?

Liza Sazonova answered on 10 Nov 2020: last edited 10 Nov 2020 4:24 pm

COVID-19 is a virus from the same family of viruses as the common cold.
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It’s important for scientists to know that, because it means that treatment for a different virus (like the flu) might not work on COVID-19 even through the symptoms are similar. Also, it’s not a bacteria, so antibacterial soap doesn’t work on COVID-19.
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The most common ways COVID-19 can affect people is to damage their lungs, causing coughing, fever, etc. – very similar to a flu. There are some other, weirder symptoms: like the loss of taste and smell in some people who have COVID-19.
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There are also longer-term effects that are much more poorly studied. Some people have chronic fatigue after being sick with COVID (they can be tired more easily for months); some never quite recover their breathing capacity; etc. Because this is a very new disease, scientists and doctors are still studying how does it affect different people and for how long.
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And some people can get COVID-19 virus but not get sick at all! Especially younger people and children. This makes the virus more dangerous: you might get it from a friend but not notice you have it, until you unknowingly infect someone else.
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Because scientists are still studying COVID-19, we are always learning new things about its effects, how it spreads and how it’s treated. Sometimes, we think we might know something but it turns out to be wrong: like some studies suggested that wearing masks is bad, but we now know it’s very important in stopping the virus. So the best thing to do is to always check in with the NHS website and stay up-to-date with what we know about the virus: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19