During a pandemic, we have to work really hard to stay healthy and also help our next-door neighbors and our global neighbors stay healthy, too. Any disease is potentially global now. Viruses don’t need visas — they go anywhere they want.

COVID-19 stands for CoronaVIrus Disease of 2019, a zoonotic disease caused by a virus that spreads from non-human species to humans. This virus is spreading easily from person to person and is new to humans who have no immunity, so a pandemic has swept the world.

Everyone is encouraged to wash their hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with hot, soapy water and to rinse liberally, because all coronaviruses have a fat coat and are heat-sensitive. Soap helps dissolve the fat coat, heat damages the viral proteins, and running water dilutes anything that may be on our hands. Like the common cold, some coronaviruses are around all the time and they cause about 15-30% of respiratory infections, typically mild, in people annually.

COVID-19 virus likely emerged from bats, then infected other species sold in live animal markets where many different species, including animals from the wild, are kept in stacked cages and slaughtered when purchased. Meanwhile thousands of people are walking through these markets. Live markets are a cultural practice to ensure the meat is fresh — but this practice must stop. My advice: never ever go to live animal markets. They are viral time bombs ready to explode at any moment.

COVID-19 virus has spread rapidly. Even when people have no symptoms, they can be infecting others. Few of us with mild disease would seek medical attention.

Also, the virus can last on surfaces for several days and float in the air in droplets for several hours when someone coughs or sneezes, thereby increasing the likelihood of infecting others.

Stopping such viruses requires an active surveillance system coupled with rapid diagnostic testing and quarantine. While working with the World Health Organization on surveillance of influenza viruses, I learned the adage “if you don’t look for it, you don’t see it and, if you don’t see it, you don’t prepare for it.” Sadly, the U.S. did not take the virus seriously, has conducted only limited testing, and has failed to secure equipment needed for patients and for protection of medical personnel.

Even now, we need much more testing to really know where we are in this pandemic. Because we don’t know enough, we are left only with more draconian measures: physical distancing and restricted travel with quarantines to avoid overloading the medical system.

What can we do? We can stay/work from home whenever possible, limit contact with others, practice good hygiene and wear masks. Individually, we should exercise, get ample sleep, eat healthy and stay socially connected via technology. People are understandably scared, but we also need to stay calm and focus on supporting our community, especially our medical personnel, local businesses, nonprofits and the unemployed.

There is hope that the emerging antibody tests for COVID-19 will help identify people who have recovered and are likely immune, so they can return to work. But we aren’t there yet.

This pandemic will pass, but the cost in lives and livelihoods will be high. Hopefully we will learn our lesson this time and be better prepared for the next pandemic, because, sadly, there will be a next one.

On that note, I do like to remind folks what Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

“The sun shines after every storm,

There is a solution to every problem,

and the soul’s highest duty is to be of good cheer.”

Virginia S. Hinshaw is chancellor emeritus and professor at the Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology, and Pharmacology, University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.