Understanding pandemics: What they mean, don’t mean, and what comes next with the coronavirus

The word “pandemic” is not a comforting one.

And yet it is increasingly being bandied about in connection with the spread of the novel coronavirus that emerged from China.

U.S. health officials have been signaling for nearly two weeks now that a coronavirus pandemic may be on the horizon. While stressing that the virus presents only a “low risk” to Americans right now, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, acknowledged Tuesday that that might not remain the case for long.

“Is there a risk that this is going to turn into a global pandemic? Absolutely, yes,” Fauci said.

But what is a pandemic? And if efforts like the quarantining of returning travelers cannot stop spread of the virus, what will? We’re peering into the unknown here, but given the ease with which this coronavirus seems to transmit from person to person, the world is likely to see much broader international spread of the virus, now known as SARS-CoV-2. (The disease the virus causes has been named Covid-19.)

Here’s what you need to know about pandemics.

What is a pandemic?

A disease doesn’t have to infect all of the globe to be a