Can anyone help me out please.
I am looking for some clear, simple definitions of some pandemic terms.
I don't consider my mom very old and she doesn't have a mental health issue that I know of. She watches the news regularly and she knows of the virus and she's nearly religious watching the news. She knows what's going on but she finds it hard to comprehend the public health advice that was hammered into us since last year. The biggest problem is not containing her coughs and sneezes. It's done into the open. She is a pensioner and she is following the guidelines and risk of her picking up the virus is low. However there is still a risk especially considering she wears her masks under the nose. She is also eager to get back to her old life of travelling on buses and going shopping into the city. I fear there will be a time where she will throw caution to the wind and go off her own way. There is a risk of her picking up a viral infection.
So far her coughs are dust related.
I asked her before to cover her coughs in case it's covid and she she didn't like being asked. I also tried explaining a few bits, it went over her head. She doesn't want to understand. Yet she is so fearful of the virus. The news of rising cases scared her yesterday.
My fear if she picks up a covid infection like at the post office or from shopping, she will be coughing high viral loads all over me and my brother. Hopefully I will be OK. I am taking vitamin D. I have my brother a vitamin D but I don't think he is using it. My fear is his body won't be able to handle a covid infection especially considering he has a high risk for a high viral load at exposure considering my mother won't cover her coughs.
I need so simple clear explanations or definitions of the term 'viral load' and how it's so important to cover coughs and sneezes.
A simple definition for 'incubation period' probably wouldn't go astray either.
I know what these terms are but I don't know how to explain them in simple terms.