Another great question.
Coronaviruses are not new, but COVID-19 is, at least for humans.
Human coronaviruses were first identified in the mid-1960s.
Some of them are Common coronaviruses, which humans can handle OK.
But COVID-19 is SO new, we don't do a great job with it.
Common human coronaviruses are:
229E (alpha coronavirus)
NL63 (alpha coronavirus)
OC43 (beta coronavirus)
HKU1 (beta coronavirus)
None of these are COVID.
Other human coronaviruses are:
MERS-CoV (the beta coronavirus that causes MERS)
SARS-CoV (the beta coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS)
SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19)
People around the world commonly get infected with human coronaviruses 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1.
Sometimes coronaviruses that infect animals can evolve and make people sick and become a new human coronavirus. Three recent examples of this are 2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV.
More on that here: cdc.gov/coronavirus/ty…
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