COVID(4) (vax)

COVID(4) | Device Drivers Manual (vax) | COVID(4)

# NAME

`covid` — coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2

# SYNOPSIS

`covid19 at sarscov2 b11 7`
`covid19 at sarscov2 b11 207`
`covid19 at sarscov2 b11 351`
`covid19 at sarscov2 b11 427`
`covid19 at sarscov2 b11 429`
`covid19 at sarscov2 b11 525`
`covid19 at sarscov2 p 1`

# DESCRIPTION

The `covid` family of diseases, attached to humanity via a spike protein bus in the year 2019 as `covid19`, is a contagious respiratory and neurological disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

`covid` is spread human-to-human mainly through small droplets and aerosols, especially in crowds, closed spaces, and close contact. Some approaches to mitigate transmission:

- Good ventilation with fresh air, and high-efficiency particulate air filtration (HEPA), can mitigate accumulation of aerosols in indoor settings, for activities that can't be moved outdoors.
- Widespread use of paper or cloth facial masks covering mouth and nose is an effective population-wide mitigation reducing dispersal of droplets and aerosols from carriers, many of whom are asymptomatic or presymptomatic.
- Wearing European FFP2 masks, American N95 masks, or Chinese KN95 masks, if appropriately fitted to the face, reduces individual risk of contracting `covid`. (However, a mask with an output vent to facilitate exhaling should be worn only with another paper or cloth mask over it, to avoid spreading exhaled virus particles if the wearer is a carrier.)

Several vaccines have been developed, tested in large-scale randomized clinical trials, and approved by regulatory bodies to immunize populations against SARS-CoV-2:

- Moderna (United States)
- Pfizer-BioNTech (multinational)
- Sputnik V (Russia)
- Oxford-AstraZeneca (multinational)
- Novavax (United Kingdom and South Africa)
- BBIBP-CorV (multinational)
- CoronaVac (Brazil)
- Johnson & Johnson, a.k.a. Janssen (multinational)
- Covaxin (India)
- Convidecia (multinational)

The approved `covid` vaccines are some of the safest and most efficacious vaccines in history, with almost all of them preventing essentially 100% of severe cases of the disease and hospitalization, and preventing the vast majority of mild cases, according to randomized clinical trials.

# SEE ALSO

Key Things to Know About COVID-19 Vaccines, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html, United States CDC — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 13, 2021.

Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/safety-of-vaccines.html, United States CDC — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 25, 2021.

Possible Side Effects After Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html, United States CDC — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March 16, 2021.

Zeynep Tufekci, 5 Pandemic Mistakes We Keep Repeating, The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/how-public-health-messaging-backfired/618147/, February 26, 2021.

# HISTORY

2020 was a sordid year.

# AUTHORS

The `covid` man page was written by Taylor R Campbell ⟨riastradh@NetBSD.org⟩, sourced from many thousands of hours of furiously doomscrolling epidemiology Twitter to pass the time during the pandemic.

# CAVEATS

The `covid` vaccines may cause muscle pain, redness, swelling, tiredness, headache, chills, fever, and/or nausea. (Sure beats catching the plague, though!)

# BUGS

`covid` is technically caused by a virus, not a bug.

March 397th, 2020 | NetBSD 11.0