Incubation Period

Corona Virus (Covid-19)

It is important to understand what the terms: exposure moment, latency period, incubation period, and communicability when investigating the coronavirus. These phrases are all related to epidemiology and define the different stages of an infection.

Exposure Moment
The exposure moment occurs the moment a pathogen enters a host. Once the pathogen enters the host, it will move to the part of the body it plans on infecting, this is when the pathogen begins to multiply.

Latency Period
The Latency Period is the period between exposure and infection, this means the pathogen is present and effecting the body but the host does not exhibit any symptoms.

Incubation Period
Incubation period refers to the period of time between exposure of the virus and exhibiting symptoms. This period varies throughout different viruses, for example when considering coronavirus, the incubation period is estimated to be 1-14 days, 5 days being the average.

Communicability
Communicability, also known as the infectious period, refers to the period of time when an infection/disease can be transmitted from one host to another (human to human, animal to animal).