What is Coronavirus?

By Kyle Agano

The Coronavirus. It’s what we know all too well these days. But did you know that Coronavirus was first discovered inside humans in 1965? This is because it has multiple forms and strains that have evolved eventually to what it has become today.

Coronavirus History.

The Coronavirus is a family of viruses that is called Corona because it’s virus-structure greatly resembles a Corona (crown in Latin). But how did the viruses come to life? Well, to explain that, we have to go to a wet market. In wet markets, people gather around and buy dead animals. But when those dead animals’ genes are merged together, a new and potentially dangerous virus can be born. The first time that a group of people found the Coronavirus family was in 1965-1967. And in that time, they discovered three Coronavirus strains such as, 229C, NL63, and OC43 which are still in the world today. Those three viruses are what most people call the “The common cold.”And this takes up about 30% of all common colds. The virus first started in chickens in the 1920’s. Even though chickens are the first species to be discovered with Coronavirus, we know now that bats are more likely to carry Coronavirus. But how does the Coronavirus-or any virus first spread? This is when food is improperly cooked or handled. In addition, not washing hands and not wearing masks is a big factor in how the virus spreads. The currently discovered Coronavirus strains include, 229C, 229E, NL93, OC43, and HKU1 (Mid 1960’s-Present) SARS (2002), MERS (2012), and, Sars-Cov-2 (2019-Present).