COVID-19 can kill you. Read that again.
COVID-19 is easily spread from person to person by physical contact, coughing or sneezing. You can become infected by exposure to those coughs or sneezes or even by shaking hands.
COVID-19 can also live on surfaces like metal, plastic and wood for anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days. Touching contaminated surfaces contaminates your hands. Fortunately, frequent and thorough handwashing with soap will kill the virus on your hands.
COVID-19 is very slow to affect you. You can have been exposed and infected for up to 14 days before you show any symptoms. But you can still be contagious – that is, you can infect others – without even knowing it.
