Abstract
This chapter covers COVID-19 as it is understood at the time of writing, and compares and contrasts COVID-19 to prior epidemics with respiratory vectors. While the coronavirus underlying COVID-19 is not the same type of virus involved in the influenza pandemic starting around 1918, processes surrounding epidemics, including principles surrounding spread and human response tendencies, have important similarities. Epidemics and pandemics, regardless of the pathogen behind them, spread through populations in similar ways, and pandemics that impact humans meet the variety of responses in the human toolkit. This text was prepared in 2022, and the coronavirus pandemic has not yet clearly transitioned to a well-defined endemic state. However, as science is not structured to offer final conclusions, this chapter may serve as a foundation from a certain period of medical and social history.