Since both the political conventions are over, we can now get back to the thing that’s probably the most troubling to most of us — COVID-19. Although I think I heard it referred to as the “China Virus” more than COVID or Coronavirus in the last week, those are the proper names. Maybe we should define them before going further….
Coronavirus — A family of viruses, seven of which are known to inflect people. They get their name from the crown-like spikes — coronas — that appear on the viruses under a microscope. Coronaviruses can cause the common cold (which can also be caused by other viruses, such as rhinoviruses,) as well as dangerous illnesses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS.) SARS CoV-2, the coronavirus virus first discovered in December 2019, causes the disease now known as COVID-19.
COViD-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) — Just as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19. The symptoms of COVID-19 include cough, fever, and shortness of breath. While the disease appears to cause mild to moderate illness in most people, in others it has caused life-threatening pneumonia and death. Doctors and researchers continue to learn more about the disease, so information about symptoms, prevention, and treatment may change as more data becomes available.
Ok — now that that’s out of the way, back to what I intended to write about today…. I got to thinking about all the times that I’ve read about coronavirus lately that I’ve had to look up terms that I wasn’t familiar with. Coronavirus has not only disrupted our lives, it’s also caused an upheaval in our language. I checked, and sure enough Merriam-Webster has made unscheduled updates to its dictionary. Some of the new words (and terms) include: community spread, contact tracing, coronavirus, COVID-19, index case, index patient, novel coronavirus, patient zero, SARS-CoV-2, self-quarantine, social distancing, and super-spreader. A few days after I checked the update, I found another update adding even more…. acute respiratory stress syndrome (ARDS,) contactless, epidemic curve, forehead thermometer, hydroxychloroquine, immune surveillance, intensivist, physical distancing, pre-symptomatic, remdesivir, and WFH (work from home.) I’m sure that if I checked today, there might be a few more.
I usually make it a point to research words or terms that I’m not familiar with — it seems important to understand these words because they can mean different things… and the differences are important — for instance, isolation and quarantine aren’t the same thing.
Some of the terms that I’ve come across recently that I didn’t know about or was wrong about their meaning include novel (not previously detected or reported) and fomites (inanimate objects whose surfaces can become contaminated with pathogens when touched by the carrier of an infection — and can transmit the pathogens to those than later touch the surface.)
And then of course some familiar terms like price gouging, profiteering, hunker down and containment have taken on a whole different meaning during this pandemic. Because the terminology is new or constantly being “re-defined” the confusion about the pandemic only gets more confusing.
Anyhow, whether we like it or not, we have to learn a new language — that’s the way it is. During the war, the British came up with an “inspiring phrase,” that was supposed to have the power to steady them through challenging times — keep calm and carry on. Sounds like as good advice as any….
— 30 —