How COVID-19 compares to previous coronaviruses

COVID-19 stacked up against MERS and SARS

Art by Maggie Klaers. COVID-19 is labeled as a “novel coronavirus” but COVID-19 is not the first coronavirus. SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2012 are other coronaviruses that have had significant outbreaks before COVID-19.

Colin Canaday
April 7, 2020

COVID-19 has had a drastic effect on society, closing schools, and even some public beaches and pools throughout the summer. A coronavirus is defined as a “family of single-stranded RNA viruses that … infect birds and many mammals including humans,” according to Merriam-Webster.

Although COVID-19 is labeled as a “novel coronavirus,” COVID-19 is certainly not the first. Notably, both SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2012 have had significant outbreaks before COVID-19. With the idea of coronaviruses not being particularly new, many are left wondering how different COVID-19 is from previous coronaviruses.

Below you will find four infographics detailing not only how this coronavirus differs from others, quantitatively, but also how it differs from a historical standpoint.

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