Social determinants of health are social and economic factors that influence individual and group differences in health status. Social determinants contribute to the development of illness and impact communicable disease transmission. A communicable disease chain describes the sequence of events by which a disease is transmitted from one person or group to another. A nurse can break the links in the chain, for example by educating patients to properly cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing to prevent the spread of an airborne virus.