COVID-19 has taken the entire world by storm. Many of the smartest people on Earth have been working to find treatments, a vaccine, and ultimately, a cure. So what exactly is COVID-19? What is a "coronavirus"? Where did the disease come from? How do you know if you have it? How is it treated? How do you stop yourself from getting it or passing it on to others? Learn all about the answers to these questions, and one more question on everyone's mind: When and how will the world go back to normal?

This book highlights the overview of the COVID-19 pandemic from both the scientific and the social perspectives. The scientific part presents key facts of COVID-19, including the structure of the virus and the techniques for the diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine development against the disease, covering state-of-the-art findings and achievements worldwide. The social part is written by WHO professionals who worked on the frontier of the fight against the disease. It covers the global security situation during the pandemic, the WHO and governmental-level risk management measures, and the estimated impact that COVID-19 will eventually create on social life after it is globally controlled.

How can we keep up with the deluge of information about COVID-19 and tell which parts are most important and trustworthy?We read: 'Scientists recommend', 'Experts warn', 'A new model predicts'. How do scientific experts come up with their recommendations? What do their predictions really mean for us, for our friends, and our families?How can we make rational decisions? And how can we have sensible conversations about the pandemic when we disagree?These are the questions that this book is trying to address.It is written in the form of dialogues. Alice, a student of epidemiology, explains the science to three of her fellow students who have a lot of questions for her. The students have the same concerns that we all share to varying degrees: What the pandemic is doing to our health, our economy, and our cherished freedoms. In their conversations, they discover how the science relates to these questions.The book focuses on epidemiology, the science of how infections spread and how the spread can be mitigated. The science of how many infections can be prevented by certain kinds of actions. This is what we need to understand if we want to act wisely, as individuals and as a society.The author's goal is to help the reader think about the COVID-19 pandemic like an epidemiologist. About the various preventive measures, what they are trying to accomplish, what the obstacles are. About what is likely to be most effective in the long run at moderate economic and personal cost. About the likely consequences of personal decisions. About how to best protect oneself and others while allowing all of us to lead lives that are as close as possible to normal.While some chapters present slightly more advanced material than others, no scientific background is needed to follow the conversations. The technical concepts are explained in small steps and the occasional calculations in the book require only high-school mathematics.Related Link(s)

This reader offers some of the most important writing to date from the science of COVID-19 and what science says about its spread and social implications. The readings have been carefully selected, introduced, and interpreted for an introductory or graduate student readership by a distinguished medical sociology and political science team. While some of the early science was inaccurate, lacking sufficient data, or otherwise incomplete, the author team has selected the most important and reliable early work for teachers and students in courses on medical sociology, public health, nursing, infectious diseases, epidemiology, anthropology of medicine, sociology of health and illness, social aspects of medicine, comparative health systems, health policy and management, health behaviors, and community health. Global in scope, the book tells the story of what happened and how COVID-19 was dealt with. Much of this material is in clinical journals, normally not considered in the social sciences, which are nonetheless informative and authoritative for student and faculty readers. Their selection and interpretation for students makes this concise reader an essential teaching source about COVID-19. An accompanying online resource on the book’s Routledge web page will update and evolve by providing links to new readings as the science develops.

"The story of the worldwide scientific quest to decipher the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, trace its source, and make possible the vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic"--Provided by publisher.

The Social Science of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action for Researchers draws on theories derived from the social sciences to address the multitude of questions raised by the COVID-19 pandemic and to inspire a future generation of researchers. The book is designed to help promote recovery from the pandemic, to minimize the negative effects of similar events in the future, and to inform social science research going forward.

Despite recent outbreaks and warnings of a future global pandemic, the world seemed largely unprepared when COVID-19 quickly spread from China to Europe to the United States and beyond. In the US the response was slow and heavily politicized. What went wrong and what can be done to ensure the country is prepared for the next pandemic? Carefully selected viewpoints from experts in the field explore the virus and how it spread; the scientific community’s scramble to understand, treat, and vaccinate; and how science and politics can work together in the future.