It is not the coronavirus

[if..fish..had..wings]

I'm sorry, but it bothers me.
You cannot catch the coronavirus. No one has the coronavirus.

When the virus currently spreading across the planet first arose back in December it was referred to as a novel coronavirus. Coronavirus is the family of viruses it belongs to because of the shape of the virus. It was novel because is was new, that's what novel means. It was a new virus that fit into the family of corona(viruses).

Back in 2002 a coronavirus appeared that was quite deadly. The disease it caused was called SARS, that is, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and the virus that caused this disease was called SARS-CoV meaning Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - CoronaVirus.

This new virus we have now is similar, it is a coronavirus, and is similar to SARS-CoV and so was named SARS-CoV2.
The disease that people get when they get infected is call Covid-19, that is, Coronavirus disease 2019.

So, the disease is Covid-19, the virus that causes the disease is SARS-CoV2.

Do not call it the coronavirus.

(Maybe if we'd called it SARS 2 from the beginning people would be more wary of it)
.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Thanks for explaining the etymology!

And good luck getting people to call it covid19. You know how stubborn habits are.

But you did explain it beautifully.

[Blues Heron]

2. I think that ship has sailed

It's now entered the lexicon for better or worse. Also, nothing wrong with saying the coronavirus, because that's what it is - it's the coronavirus (that happens to be prevalent and scary right now)

If another one comes along it will probably be "Coronavirus Part Deux" or something more catchy along those lines.

[if..fish..had..wings]

5. Son of Corona

The Final Battle

[stillcool]

3. I like using Covid-19..

to avoid the 'is it an a or an o" spelling issue I have. Thanks for the info!

[Moostache]

4. SARS 2 - The Return of Orange Menace?

I think if we had 20-20 hindsight, we should have made Gritty the virus spokes-mascot, the world may have been more appropriately concerned...maybe?


I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said, but its a losing battle to get people to stop saying the wrong thing once it takes root...

How many people 'got AIDS'? When in reality it was always exposure to HIV that led to a variety of immune system maladies that became AIDS?

[Hoyt]

6. At this point, don't think the nomenclature really matters. Kind of like HIV vs. AIDS. I suppose

it matters in scientific/clinical discussions, but not much else.

[if..fish..had..wings]

7. Well

If we all use the correct terms the yahoos won't know what we're talking about!

[Squinch]

8. I'll add that to my list of things to be concerned about.

Or not.

[ancianita]

9. Good to learn. Thank you.

[if..fish..had..wings]

10. Don't forget

We can poll the publicans:

Which is worse?

1. The coronavirus
2. Covid-19
3. SARS-Cov2

and see what they say

[Hoyt]

13. That would be interesting. Although rubes would probably say, "Obama."

[MoonRiver]

11. Thanks for the great analysis!

But, btw, some fish do have "wings."



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_fish

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. That's been like nails on a blackboard for me since the virus and disease were first named.

I've been screaming into a wind tunnel about it ever since.