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What to Call the Coronavirus – wehearthealthliteracy

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What to Call the Coronavirus – wehearthealthliteracy
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Alt: A coronavirus doodle factors to an indication that claims, “Hello, my title is: Coronavirus” with a number of different title choices crossed out.

Lately, expensive readers, a few of you’ve requested us what to name the coronavirus in well being supplies. Right here at We ❤ Well being Literacy Headquarters, we’ve been speaking about this lots.

Let’s dive proper in by tackling the low-hanging fruit:

  • Skip SARS-CoV-2 (the official title of the virus itself). It’s lengthy and technical — and other people could confuse it with the 2003 SARS outbreak. So until you’re writing for an viewers of infectious illness specialists, keep away from this time period like… the plague.
  • Ditch “novel.” Usually, we’d swap “novel” for “new” in plain language supplies, however “the new coronavirus” sounds a bit like a shiny new automotive. And at this level, COVID-19 doesn’t really feel so novel anyway.
  • By no means use stigmatizing phrases like “the Chinese language virus” or “Wuhan coronavirus.” Associating the virus with explicit folks or locations perpetuates dangerous stereotypes.

Now that we’ve obtained these out of the means, it’s down to 2 contenders: coronavirus and COVID-19. So can all of us simply decide one and name it a day? It’s difficult! These phrases could get thrown round interchangeably, however they imply barely various things:

  • Coronavirus is the title for a household of viruses that trigger respiratory infections. These infections vary from the frequent chilly to extra critical sicknesses, like SARS.
  • COVID-19 stands for “coronavirus illness 2019,” and it’s the official title of the illness in the present pandemic. It’s attributable to a selected coronavirus (our previous buddy SARS-CoV-2).

That mentioned, in case you’re making common references to the pandemic, both time period works:

  • Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, social distancing may also help hold folks secure.
  • Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing may also help hold folks secure.

It’s possible you’ll even select to use each phrases in a single materials. Each phrases are throughout the information and social media, so there’s an argument for utilizing the phrases your audiences see every single day.

In the event you’re writing one thing extra nuanced, you need to use coronavirus to refer to the virus and COVID-19 for particular details and figures about the illness. For instance:

  • Consultants assume this coronavirus could have began in bats.
  • Signs of COVID-19 embrace fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

Simply ensure to clarify someplace in your materials that COVID-19 is the illness attributable to this particular coronavirus.

At this level, it’s possible you’ll be considering, “However COVID-19 has all caps and a quantity! That’s not good for low-literacy audiences.” Good level! Sticking with “coronavirus” for low-lit audiences is a wonderfully cheap selection.

Or you possibly can lose the caps. “Covid-19” and “covid-19” don’t clear up the drawback solely, however they may also help with readability. And other people pronounce the phrase “COVID” — not the particular person letters. (We’ve been following the lead of the World Well being Group and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, they usually each cap it.)

Nonetheless ready for a transparent reply? Effectively, such as you, we’re studying as we go on this one! However we hope these concerns will aid you decide the proper phrases on your audiences and supplies.

The underside line: “COVID-19” and “coronavirus” are sometimes used interchangeably. However there are some vital issues to contemplate if you’re selecting which one to use in your well being supplies.

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