New World, New Vocabulary

Will things ever be the same again? TV shows are broadcasting from cast’s homes. Some are relying on Patreon to make a living. We are homeschooling. The unemployment rate is sky high. Many of us are at home. We have a mask wardrobe. And we have new vocabulary. Much of this vocabulary applies to more than Covid-19, but for the sake of  this post, we will refer to everything in terms of Covid-19.

Here are a few new acronyms and abbreviations we were not familiar with a few months ago:

Covid-19 = Coronavirus that was first seen in 2019.

SIP = Shelter in place (staying home)

PPE = Personal protection equipment (masks and gowns for medical personnel)

And lots of new words:

Novel virus  – A virus that has not been seen before. Although there have been many other types of coronavirus before, not this one, Covid-19.

Epidemic versus Pandemic – An epidemic is the occurrence of a disease that spreads among many people in a location where it is not permanently present. A pandemic is a disease that has spread to an entire country or continents.

Quarantine versus self-quarantine versus isolation versus self-isolation – People are put into quarantine when they are not sick, but have been (or may have been) exposed to a disease, to help stop the spread. Self-quarantine is when someone isn’t ordered to go into quarantine but does so out of caution. A person who is infected with a disease and is infectious is isolated from healthy people to stop the spread. People who say they are self-isolating may or may not be infected with the disease. 

Asymptomatic – Without symptoms. Apparently some people who have Covid-19 may have no symptoms, but may be spreading the disease unknowingly. Good if you get it and have no symptoms, but bad since you are spreading it unknowingly.

Community Spread – People in a certain area becoming infected from others, whether they know who infected them or not. 

Flattening the Curve – The idea of slowing the spread of a disease like Covid-19 so that hospitals can accommodate the patient flow. There may not be fewer cases in total, but there are the same number of cases over a longer period of time.

Herd Immunity –  The opposite notion of flattening the curve, where you send everyone out to catch the disease until we become immune. Sweden has been trying this, and it didn’t work well for them.

Mask – Not just for Halloween anymore. The making of masks has become a big thing for those who sew. Some are making them for medical personnel (thank you. Some are making fanciful printed masks and selling them. Some are improvising their own masks with bandanas, thongs, and scarves.

Test– No grades given on these, just positive or negative. We hear “Test, test, test, ” and “Where are the tests?”  There has been lots of talk about the Covid-19 tests, which finally seem to be more available, even to those without symptoms. 

Antibody – You develop these if you have had Covid-19 already, with or without symptoms, and you might therefore be immune or somewhat immune to getting it again. The antibody tests are blood tests (unlike the cheek and nasal swab tests to see if you have the disease) and are starting to appear. However, we don’t know their accuracy and, more importantly, we don’t know if people are immune to getting it again or not.

Contact tracing – Finding those people whom infected people may have come in contact with and therefore exposed to Covid -19. For example, if someone who flew on a certain flight proved positive for Covid-19, the other passengers would be notified.

Ventilator – Machine that helps people breathe….and there weren’t enough of them. Or they were in the wrong places. Or broken. But we heard a lot about them.

Unemployment – Lots of that around, and you know what it is.

Front-line workers – Nurses, doctors, EMTs, other medical personnel, firefighters, and others who respond in a health crisis.

Essential workers – Those who still work during a pandemic because they are needed, including of course the front-line workers – also police, bankers, sanitation workers, etc.

Social distancing – Keeping space between you and everyone else when you leave home, so you don’t catch Covid-19 – in this case 6 feet.

Cuomo-sexual –   Those who highly approve of Governor Cuomo’s handling of the Covid-19 situation in New York.

Zoom – How we have meetings, learning experiences, and get togethers during the pandemic.

SNL at Home – A great try at making do with what you have…and somewhat a success!

Stay at Home – The new mantra

I am sure I have missed some of our “new vocabulary,” so let me know in the comments.

Stay well and stay home if you can.