What do I need to know about the coronavirus and COVID-19?

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses, some of which can infect people and animals, named for crownlike spikes on their surfaces. COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. It spreads primarily by person-to-person contact through respiratory droplets that become airborne when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or speaks.

COVID-19 symptoms: These include respiratory illness with fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. Sometimes people experience chills and shaking, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, or a loss of sense of taste or smell. In severe cases, COVID-19 can cause pneumonia and severe acute respiratory syndrome. People with chronic health conditions and the elderly are more likely than others to have a life-threatening case of the disease.

Variants: New variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, will continue to evolve as they spread and replicate. Some disappear. The CDC tracks and continues to monitor variants. According to the CDC, the omicron variant and its versions likely spread more easily than the original COVID-19 virus and have become the dominant strains in the U.S. Studies suggest that the currently authorized vaccines provide better protection than going without the safeguards.

Learn more from the CDC’s latest update on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

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Why is the coronavirus worse than the flu?

Although the seasonal flu spreads globally like the coronavirus, the mortality rate for the flu is much lower, and more people have immunity (either naturally or via a flu vaccine). While the flu and COVID-19 are contagious respiratory illnesses, they’re caused by different viruses. The flu is caused by infection with an influenza virus, while the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, causes COVID-19, a more infectious and often more serious illness, according to the CDC.

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How did World Vision respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.?

World Vision supplied Family Emergency Kits to vulnerable families from strategic locations throughout the U.S., including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Seattle. Each kit includes nutritious food for a family of five for a week, as well as hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, first-aid antiseptic, paper products, and children’s games and school supplies.

Since March 2020, the onset of the pandemic, we distributed 87,600 Family Emergency Kits, serving more than 328,700 children and adults through our church partners as of February 1, 2024. In partnership with the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box program, we distributed more than 3.6 million Fresh Food Boxes to nearly 14.3 million people across the U.S. through a network of over 1,300 churches between May 2020 and May 2021.

World Vision also distributed more than 3 million items of personal protective equipment to healthcare systems, first responders, and schools across the U.S., including a distribution to the Navajo Nation.

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What was World Vision’s response to the coronavirus pandemic worldwide?

World Vision prioritized our COVID-19 response in every country where we work. Our global response focused on four main objectives, with programs that were adapted based on context and local need: scaling up preventive measures to slow the spread, strengthening healthcare systems and workers, supporting children impacted by the effects of the pandemic, and collaborating and advocating with partners to ensure that vulnerable children got the care they need.

We served vulnerable populations in countries where the health systems and monitoring were weak; where people have been suffering from diseases common among impoverished populations, such as malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia, HIV and AIDS, and Ebola; or where severe malnutrition compromised immune systems.

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How many people has World Vision supported since the start of the pandemic?

World Vision supported more than 99 million people globally to stay safe during the pandemic with supplies and information about protecting themselves from COVID-19, including handwashing, social distancing, mask usage, hygiene practices, and vaccines. As of September 2022, marking the end of our program’s reporting, here are response highlights:

• Partnered with more than 207,614 faith leaders to ensure vulnerable families have information on COVID-19 prevention and care and vaccines.
• Distributed more than 12.8 million supplies, including handwashing materials, hygiene kits, and cleaning kits, to keep communities safe.
• Established or maintained nearly 297,000 facilities, like community handwashing stations, school toilets, household latrines with handwashing facilities, clean drinking water systems, and community drainage systems, to limit the spread of COVID-19.
• Reached more than 54 million people with health interventions, including preventative behavior and vaccine messaging, safe quarantine and/or isolation spaces, and transportation support and services.
• Trained 291,430 community health workers in COVID-19 prevention measures, including vaccines.
• Aided more than 5.2 million people with educational materials, support, or training so children could keep learning during pandemic-related school closures.
• Helped more than 13 million people in 64 countries with cash and vouchers or food assistance.
• Supported over 1.9 million children with child protection activities.
• Assisted more than 5 million people with psychosocial support or age-specific health information, education, and communication materials.
• Equipped people and communities to recover and thrive during COVID-19 through VisionFund’s microfinancing, recovery loans, and savings groups.

Even as our commitment focused on responding to immediate needs, helping people restore livelihoods and build back required guaranteed access to coronavirus vaccines, tests, and treatments for everyone who needed them globally.

Vaccines play a critical role for the most vulnerable 

In 2022 alone, World Vision reached more than 10.5 million people, including 4.2 million children, with ongoing support for vaccine programs and interventions to reduce the pandemic’s indirect impacts on the most vulnerable people.

Globally and through our local staff, World Vision has extensive experience confronting pandemics, supporting vaccination programs, and improving child health. We worked alongside our partners to implement immunization campaigns and ensure communities understood the benefits of a COVID-19 vaccination. The availability of COVID-19 vaccines for vulnerable people globally will continue to enormously benefit the hundreds of millions of children whom the pandemic has negatively impacted by giving them a lifeline to return to their childhoods. Vaccines are a game changer for children, as they allow kids to resume school and families to recover their livelihoods.

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