“is transmitted through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person”
Avoid all these and you should be fine.
As far as Europeans were concerned he did.
Although there is widespread belief that the existence of these continents was well known amongst certain sailing communities and there has almost certainly been contact with other cultures centuries before. As in all such matters publicity is everything.
Although I’m sure you will have noticed that I didn’t actually say that he had ‘discovered’ them.
Native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes. Brought to Europe in the second half of the 1500s. Very near to tomatoes. That Columbus fellow has a lot to answer for.