Coronavirus: The Words You Need To Understand

The COVID-19 outbreak that we are all facing will be an experience that none of us will forget. While dealing with a global crisis having repercussions on everyone and everything, many people are still un or misinformed about this virus. With the overload of information, fake news is difficult to differentiate from what is authentic. On the news, we hear lots of technical words most of us aren't familiar with. This article by by John Kelly, a Senior Research Editor for  Dictionary.com entitled "Coronavirus: The Words You Need To Understand". The News gives us the most important words that we must understand in order to be fully aware of the pandemic. Here are 10 words (and their definitions) that I found the most recurrent and important in the News.

1. asymptomatic

Asymptomatic means “showing no evidence of disease.”

Just because a person is asymptomatic doesn’t mean they aren’t infected with COVID-19.

2. communicable

Communicable means “capable of being easily communicated (spread) or transmitted.” COVID-19 is a communicable disease.

Communicable diseases are infectious diseases. All contagious diseases are infectious, but not all infectious diseases are contagious. Contagious diseases are infectious diseases that are easily spread through contact with other people.

3. coronavirus

Coronavirus refers to any of various RNA-containing spherical viruses of the family Coronaviridae, including several that cause acute respiratory illnesses.

Notable types of coronavirus are SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. COVID-19 is popularly referred to as (the) coronavirus or corona for short. COVID-19 is referred to as the novel coronavirus because it is a new (novel) virus (i.e., it hasn’t been detected before). Novel coronavirus can be abbreviated as nCoV.

4. COVID-19

COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus. The disease was discovered in China in December 2019 and has since spread around the world.

COVID is short for coronavirus disease. The number 19 refers to the fact that the disease was first detected in 2019.

The technical name of the virus that causes COVID-19 is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, abbreviated as SARS-CoV-2.

5. epidemic

An epidemic is a temporary prevalence of a disease spreading from person to person in a locality where that disease is not permanently prevalent.

6. isolation

Isolation is the complete separation from others of a person suffering from contagious or infectious disease.

In public health, isolation happens when a person is infected with a communicable disease, and is separated from people who are healthy. This helps stop the spread of disease.

Self-isolation is voluntary isolation. Note that everyday people may use self-isolation when they aren’t infected and are social distancing.

7. pandemic

A pandemic is a disease prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world. A pandemic is an epidemic that has spread over a large area.

The World Health Organization (WHO) specifically uses pandemic to refer to new diseases people do not have immunity for and that have spread worldwide. The WHO has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

Pandemic can be both a noun and an adjective (e.g., a pandemic disease).

8. quarantine

Quarantine is a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.

In public health, people are placed in quarantine when they are not currently sick, but have been or may have been exposed to a communicable disease. This helps stop the spread of the disease.

Self-quarantine is when someone isn’t ordered to go into quarantine but chooses to do so out of caution; also called voluntary quarantine.

9. virus

A virus is an infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants, and animals.

Viruses are composed of an RNA or DNA core, a protein coat, and, in more complex types, a surrounding envelope. They are ultramicroscopic, 20 to 300 nanometers (nm) in length. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. Viruses are also metabolically inert, which is why they only can replicate themselves in cells of living hosts.

COVID-19 spreads through droplets from the mouth and nose of a person with COVID-19 after coughing, sneezing, exhaling, talking, etc.

10. WHO

WHO stands for the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency based in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to the WHO, its main role is

… to direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations system. Our main areas of work are health systems; health through the life-course; noncommunicable and communicable diseases; preparedness, surveillance and response; and corporate services.