How COVID-19 causes infection and strategies for prevention
| What COVID-19 does | What we can do |
| COVID-19 is an airborne disease. | Wear an effective mask! |
| COVID-19 binds to your cells to make more virus. | Get vaccinated to keep antibody levels high and prevent COVID-19 from binding to your cells! |
| COVID-19 uses your cells as “virus factories.” | Take sensible steps to avoid exposure to keep COVID-19 out of your cells! |
| COVID-19 does not care what happens to your body or anyone else’s! | Care about public health! |
Layers of defense minimize risk
No single COVID-19 safety measure is guaranteed to prevent infection. Each layer of protective measures we add lowers the risk of infection:
- Masks minimize the risk of transmission by capturing and redirecting the potentially contaminated aerosols produced as we breathe, talk, and eat.
- Physical distancing from others reduces the concentration of potentially contaminated aerosols and droplets that we share.
- Vaccination trains our bodies to defend themselves before we get infected, allowing us to mount an effective response upon infection.
- Ventilation and air filtration reduce the concentration of potentially contaminated aerosols in an enclosed space.