(no subject)
Viral Etymology
I'm reading up on the name of the new virus. "New virus" was just about all they could decide on when scientists first found out about it. They quickly determined that it was a coronavirus, so named because it apparently resembles a crown. Coronaviruses are one of the causes of common colds, different from influenza. So they called it the "novel Corona Virus" and tagged it with the current year, 2019, making it "2019-nCoV". Obviously, the only new word common people saw in that was "corona", and so they started calling it "Corona Virus".
A week ago, the WHO (the health organization, not the band) announced that they've named the disease "COrona VIrus Disease, 2019," or COVID-19, but the virus itself was unnamed until just after that announcement. A research team found out it was very similar to the virus that caused the SARS outbreak, so they named it "SARS-related Corona Virus 2," or "SARS-CoV-2".
Then the WHO was like, "You can't just go around calling something "SARS" in Asia! People will panic!" and so they're refusing to use that name in any of their official material, instead opting for things like, "the virus that causes COVID-19."
I guess it makes sense, since SARS-CoV-1 was named after the (rather aggressive) disease SARS, while SARS-CoV-2 is related but weaker. Essentially, it raises the point that a virus family probably shouldn't be named based on the symptoms caused by one strain, which is why the WHO is focusing on COVID-19. If there's a SARS-CoV-3 in the future that barely causes some sniffles, it shouldn't be associated with either COVID-19 or SARS.
I'm reading up on the name of the new virus. "New virus" was just about all they could decide on when scientists first found out about it. They quickly determined that it was a coronavirus, so named because it apparently resembles a crown. Coronaviruses are one of the causes of common colds, different from influenza. So they called it the "novel Corona Virus" and tagged it with the current year, 2019, making it "2019-nCoV". Obviously, the only new word common people saw in that was "corona", and so they started calling it "Corona Virus".
A week ago, the WHO (the health organization, not the band) announced that they've named the disease "COrona VIrus Disease, 2019," or COVID-19, but the virus itself was unnamed until just after that announcement. A research team found out it was very similar to the virus that caused the SARS outbreak, so they named it "SARS-related Corona Virus 2," or "SARS-CoV-2".
Then the WHO was like, "You can't just go around calling something "SARS" in Asia! People will panic!" and so they're refusing to use that name in any of their official material, instead opting for things like, "the virus that causes COVID-19."
I guess it makes sense, since SARS-CoV-1 was named after the (rather aggressive) disease SARS, while SARS-CoV-2 is related but weaker. Essentially, it raises the point that a virus family probably shouldn't be named based on the symptoms caused by one strain, which is why the WHO is focusing on COVID-19. If there's a SARS-CoV-3 in the future that barely causes some sniffles, it shouldn't be associated with either COVID-19 or SARS.