A
Asymptomatic
This is where you are not showing any symptoms that you have COVID-19. However, you can still pass the virus on to others.
At-risk groups
There are some groups of people who may be more at-risk of serious illness if they catch COVID-19.
You are more at risk of serious illness if you catch COVID-19 and you:
- are over 60, people over 70 are particularly vulnerable and should cocoon
- have a long-term medical condition – for example, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, cancer or high blood pressure, and
- have a weak immune system (immunosuppressed)
- have a medical condition that can affect your breathing
- are residents of nursing homes and other long-stay settings
- are in specialist disability care and are over 50 years of age or have an underlying health problem
Source: HSE webpage on At-risk groups and coronavirus
B
Body temperature
The normal adult body temperature is 36.5 to 37 degrees Celsius. A high temperature or fever is 38 degrees Celsius or above.
C
Case
This is a person with COVID-19.
(An index case is the first documented case in a population, region, or family.)
Chain of infection
This is how an infection spreads from one person to another.
This can also be called chain of transmission.
You can read more on this in the HSE Patient Safety sheet on germs.
Clinical trials
These are types of research that study the effectiveness and safety of medications (such as vaccines) by monitoring their effects on large groups of people.
Close contact
This can mean someone:
- spending more than 15 minutes face-to-face contact within 2 metres of an infected person
- living in the same house or sharing accommodation with an infected person
Source: HSE webpage on Symptoms and causes
Cluster
This refers to a small group of people in a particular space who all have the same disease. For example, a cluster of people in nursing homes or hospitals.
Cocooning
This is where certain groups of people (such as people over 70 and people with health issues) will stay in their homes to avoid contact with any person who may have COVID-19.
More information from the HSE here and watch this video.
Community transmission
This occurs where a person who gets COVID-19:
- has not travelled to an affected area, and
- has no connection to a known case.
Communicable
This means that coronavirus can be spread from one person to another.
Co-morbidity
This means having two different health conditions at the same time. COVID-19 has been found to be particularly severe for people who have other health issues.
Compromised immune system
This is where you have a weak immune system (immunosuppressed).
There are many things that can cause a weak immune system, including:
- cancer treatment
- treatment for autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS) and inflammatory bowel diseases
- HIV
- having an organ transplant or a bone-marrow transplant
Source: HSE webpage on At-risk groups and coronavirus
Contact – direct and indirect
Contact with someone with COVID-19 can include direct contact and indirect contact which can spread the virus.
- Direct contact is when you breathe in droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze through the air. That’s why keeping your distance to 2 metres apart is important.
- Indirect contact is when you touch something that the infected person has touched with the virus and it is spread to you. That’s why cleaning regularly touched surfaces like door handles, light switches and so on is important.
Contact tracing
When the health authorities try to find who has been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 to see who else may be at risk of catching it.
Source: Journal.ie contact tracing explainer
Contagious
This means that a disease can be spread from one person to another, typically by direct contact. This is why we don’t shake hands with people during this COVID-19 outbreak.
Contamination
This is a process of infecting or staining something making it impure or spoiled.
Containment phase
Steps introduced to prevent the virus from spreading for as long as possible, such as identifying early cases and trying to establish who the infected person has been in contact with.
Source: RTÉ website: the terminology of COVID-19
Containment strategy
Process of preventing transmission of COVID-19 from an infected individual to others. This means isolating a person with COVID-19 from other people.
Coronavirus COVID-19
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.
Source: World Health Organisation https://who.int
It is new illness that can affect your lungs and airways. Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory (breathing) illness and recover without needing special treatment.
COVID-19 is spread by sneeze or cough droplets. To infect you, it has to get from an infected person’s nose or mouth into your eyes, nose or mouth. This can be direct (from droplets) or indirect (on hands, objects, surfaces).
Source: HSE Coronavirus Overview
The name COVID-19 comes from the year it was first detected (2019) and using letters from CO-rona-VI-rus D-isease.