Community spread is spread of a disease among a certain area, in which there is no direct knowledge of how or when someone contracted the disease. While some cases of coronavirus can be pinpointed to certain trips, associations between people or other events, instances of "community spread" are less specific and harder to trace.

Community spread of the coronavirus means people living within an area have become infected, including some people who aren't certain how or where they became infected. For example, they haven't recently traveled to a country experiencing an outbreak, or haven't knowingly been exposed to someone with confirmed COVID-19.

Used when the source of someone’s coronavirus infection is unknown. In the case of COVID-19, this means it was not due to recent travel to a high-risk area, or exposure to someone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.

Confirmed cases of a virus with unknown origin, meaning they cannot be traced to a close contact or a traveler. Multiple states in the U.S. have reported high rates of community spread, including Washington, New York, California and Massachusetts.

When the virus spreads between people who had no discernable connection to its source. In the early days of the outbreak, this term was used to distinguish cases in which a person became infected with the virus without having traveled to Wuhan. Now that the virus is present across the world, the vast majority of cases are community spread.