From social media to the news, there is a lot of information being spread about COVID-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus. To help you filter out fact from fiction, we recommend following credible sources such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the most accurate and up-to-date information. Another great resource for information comes directly from Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
On March 26, Dr. Fauci made a virtual appearance on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah to address common questions and debunk myths about the coronavirus. In the interview, Noah asked Dr. Fauci, “How can we catch corona, and what are the areas we should be most concerned about?”
According to Dr. Fauci, “The things that are the most common, that you really want to latch onto, is that sneezing and coughing — when someone is ill, they’ve got to get themselves out of circulation because they can spread [the virus] by droplets and even by what we call aerosol, which means the drop doesn’t go down right away, it hangs around for a bit.”
Dr. Fauci also recommended avoiding shaking hands as people can transmit the virus if they’ve previously coughed in their hand and proceed to touch another person’s hand or objects like doorknobs. (Here’s information on how long the coronavirus can stay on various surfaces.) “If you really want to be careful, besides the social distancing of six feet, don’t shake anybody’s hands. Just lose that for a while and wash your hands as often as you can because you may be inadvertently touching something,” he added.
While it’s been stated that the elderly, those who are immunocompromised, and those with respiratory complications are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, it doesn’t mean that younger, seemingly healthy people are risk-free and immune to the virus. Dr. Fauci explained, “Even though you are young, you are not absolutely invulnerable for sure because we are seeing cases, most of them have some underlying disease but several don’t, who are young people. If you think you are completely invulnerable, you’re incorrect.” Additionally, Dr. Fauci stated that you can become infected and be asymptomatic or have relatively few symptoms and still potentially infect another person.
The 13-minute-long interview touched on how long people should be self-isolating, provided information on the potential for reinfection, and more, so if you have the time, we highly recommend watching it in its entirety in the video above.
POPSUGAR aims to give you the most accurate and up-to-date information about the coronavirus, but details and recommendations about this pandemic may have changed since publication. For the latest information on COVID-19, please check out resources from the WHO, CDC, and local public health departments.