They're both pretty terrifying—here's what to know about each.
When an epidemic crosses over into pandemic, the biggest difference is that more governments are involved in attempting to prevent the progression of the disease and, potentially, treat the people who have it., the FDA may begin issuing “emergency use authorizations” during a pandemic, which allows doctors to use medications outside of the FDA-approved use.
Consider the current epidemic of coronavirus, a respiratory illness in China, for example. So far, officials have identified a few cases in the US, Thailand, and South Korea, says, a professor of medicine and international health at Boston University. Technically, that’s a pandemic. But it hasn’t been declared one. “The United States have the public health capability to be screening at the airports, which we're doing now,” he says. “You could stop it in its tracks.
And that fear factor seems to truly be the connotation that words like “epidemic” and “pandemic” strike. When the news declares gun violence, the opioid crisis, or this year’s influenza as an epidemic, it’s supposed to tell us that there’s a sense of urgency to fix the problem.