Coronavirus (Covid-19)

[ShyViolet]

Don’t forget the fruit juice!

(Glad you got the turkey. )

[Daniel]

Meeting Santa in the age of Covid:



Little saddening since they don't even get to shake his hand or anything, but it is what it is. What a year.

[ShyViolet]

Aww, those kids are so sweet. Yeah it is pretty sobering.

Definitely time to break out Miracle on 34th street! (The original lol! )

[Daniel]

Naturally, the remake was blah.

[Daniel]

"State of CA: New public health stay at home order in your area. Covid-19 is spreading rapidly. Stay home except for essential activity. Wear a mask. Keep your distance. Visit covid19.ca.gov."

Got that via text. How déjà vu-ie.

[ShyViolet]

Oh no...I’m really sorry Dan...please stay safe.

[Daniel]

Even told my mom before it became official "here we go again"... For the best, though.

[ShyViolet]

I hope everyone here’s doing ok.


The early distribution of vaccines does bring out some optimism in me. What a year! . I’m praying things get at least A LITTLE better. I think we’ve earned the right to at least HOPE.

[Randall]

Vaccination began in Canada today, too. And yes, this should be the beginning of the end of this, though it may take a year or more for things to normalize again. I'm just hoping that my family can get vaccinated by the time the next school year starts in September. I'm a healthcare worker, so I may get it a little quicker (I'm in out-patient practice, not the hospital).

We're having a surge in cases around here, but still just a fraction of the US or UK numbers. Some restrictions for us (nothing that affects my limited 2020 lifestyle), but no lockdown yet.

[ShyViolet]

Just read about the new Covid strain/lockdown in England. Please stay safe Ben, and everyone else in the UK!

[Ben]

Yep, Bojo The Clown has caved and done what basically any sane person in the UK was already planning. Lots of complaints, but, basically who and why would anyone be planning anything this Christmas with a vaccine so close? Plus we have this new variant of the virus, which was announced this week but is slowly being leaked that the UK gov knew about it in November, and some papers saying as far back as September. So that’s not good.

Not that we had any plans other than to just sit tight, but in light of the nee strain (as I type this, some European countries are announcing that they won’t accept flights in from the UK because of the mutation, which spreads quicker than the first one), we are just doubling down on cutting off practically all contact for now. They *say* that the new strain doesn’t make you any more ill — as if getting Covid badly could be any worse — but then again they said the original virus wasn’t much worse than the flu, so I’m. It buying anything about this new variant that they are still running tests on and don’t know everything about, except that it transmits 70% faster, which is nuts enough,

So...not good, but ultimately not really "affecting" us much, as this doesn’t really change the sensible plans we already had decided on. You all take care, too. Variants have also been reported in some other countries so it could be anywhere. Just stay home!

[Randall]

I did a little research for some writing I'm doing today, and came across this:

Sorry, Ben. The Associated Press says it's COVID-19. All caps.
https://capitalizemytitle.com/ufaqs/is- ... pitalized/

(Some media outlets go another way, of course.)

WHO named it, and they also go all-caps.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-prope ... r-covid-19

I know Ben will disagree, but that's really the "official" spelling.

[Ben]

That’s just the AP opinion, not an "official" name.

And the WHO isn’t consistent! We had official government documentation sent out that contained information from WHO when this started, and at least back at the start it was Covid-19, which is also my preferred version.

Truth is, there is no "official" designation. It’s not quite an acronym and not quite a word, hence why it’s okay to display it (spell is not the right word) in many different configurations. But when you break it down, Covid-19 is probably the most sensible, especially since "covid" has become a word that will likely be added to the dictionary. As before, because the first word is an abbreviation, it makes more sense to capitalize the C.

The AP are clearly following the WHO, but then they are a health organization, and not wordsmiths, and initially did very little to contain it, so they don’t know everything!

I’d rather follow more established publications with better understanding of nomenclature...and who get the "Covid-19" label right!

[Randall]

"right" Uh-huh. (Yes, I noticed your wink. )

"More established" than the Associated Press? There may be older institutions, but AP is one of the biggest style-setters. Not that it can't be debated, but I wouldn't be too quick to set aside their choice.

Still, CNN and BBC agree with you!

While one does see various organizations use various rules, WHO named the virus and its illness (oh, that could slip into an Abbott & Costello routine!), so I would think they'd have the most "official" claim to how to sp... I mean, display it, if anyone does. (Though, I think we do often see "spell" used when referring to which case to use.) All of these stories, and many more, use the all-caps version, and say that COVID-19 is the "official" name. You may disagree with them, of course, but it is what it is.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-n ... 9-n1134756
https://www.sciencealert.com/who-has-fi ... oronavirus
https://nypost.com/2020/02/11/world-hea ... -covid-19/

More insight here. Notably, they say that either is acceptable, though at the time they looked forward to the AP weighing in:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-right ... d-Covid-19

Also quite importantly, they suggest it really doesn't matter.

But for me, the bottom line is that WHO created the official name, and they use COVID-19.

[Ben]

Well, as we know, the name's breakdown is really CoVid-19, or CoViD-19 (depending if you capitalize the word disease or not), but that looks dumb, even if Steve Martin's girlfriend in LA Story would sympathize.

I dunno, I just have a problem when people suggest acronyms that aren’t actually acronyms...