I don't like living in England....

[francovendee]

The first time I heard it called the Chinese virus was by Trump. This wasn't just a way to identify it, it was used with malice and intended to create hatred towards China.

[Psamathe]

The first time I heard it called the Chinese virus was by Trump. This wasn't just a way to identify it, it was used with malice and intended to create hatred towards China.

I would agree but are the real issues then human nature which turns Trump's anti-Chinese Trade Policy (balance of payments, etc.) into abuse and attacks against anybody looking remotely Asian. Is that down to stupidity at several steps along the way? Should we ban use of the "Kent variant" because that would allow "the Chinese variant" which when used by some people would incite racist attacks and their racist views?

(Note: I appreciate that Trump used "the China Virus" NOT "the Chinese Variant")

Ian

[francovendee]

Using the type of variant for anything other identifying which strain is becoming dominant is wholly unacceptable.
It is possible to use the term Chinese strain and avoid being racist but as all the other variants stem from it would seem using is pointless unless you want to emphasis where it came from.

[Ride-sleep-repeat]

The first time I heard it called the Chinese virus was by Trump. This wasn't just a way to identify it, it was used with malice and intended to create hatred towards China.

It was aimed at a particular knuckle-dragging element of US citizens and appears to have done what Trump intended.

[al_yrpal]

At the start of the pandemic I read of a group of Chinese workers working to remove a pile of batshit in a cave and when they returned to Wuhan they became very ill. Never heard any more. I suppose labelling a strain with a number would be difficult to remember, wheras a location where the strain appeared is more memorable. One does suspect some folk like to focus their hate via a sort of covert racism though just like Trump did

Al

[Cyril Haearn]

I find numbers quite easy to remember, Covid-19. But 19? Simples, it was the average age of US soldiers serving in Nam, there is a song about them, nanananineteen, nineteen

[Jdsk]

I find numbers quite easy to remember, Covid-19. But 19? Simples, it was the average age of US soldiers serving in Nam, there is a song about them, nanananineteen, nineteen

The average age of the US infantrymen in Viet Nam was something like 22y, and of all servicemen something like 26y.

https://www.vhpa.org/info/stats.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_(song)

...

But the mnemonic problem isn't with COVID-19. It's with B.1.1.7, and B.1.351 and P.1 etc

Jonathan

[merseymouth]

Mislabelling is yonks old? The "1918 Spanish Flu" wasn't Spanish nor Flu, so not easy to pin the tail on that particular donkey! Or might I be flogging a dead horse? MM

[Jdsk]

The "1918 Spanish Flu" wasn't Spanish nor Flu...

It was caused by an H1N1 influenza A virus. Why is that not "Flu"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Jonathan

[Ben@Forest]

I find numbers quite easy to remember, Covid-19. But 19? Simples, it was the average age of US soldiers serving in Nam, there is a song about them, nanananineteen, nineteen

The average age of the US infantrymen in Viet Nam was something like 22y, and of all servicemen something like 26y.

Not only that but (iirc because this has come up here before) the average age of an American serviceman dying in the Vietnam War was just over 23 years old, and two thirds of casualties were volunteer soldiers/airmen etc, not draftees.

It's good to see you back though Cyril!

[syklist]

The English variant of C19 now accounts for over 89% of cases in the Vendee, hence the rapid rise in the numbers.

It accounts for over 90% of infections in the Greater Oslo area. Infection rates are going down at the moment after another round of lockdowns.

One British export we could have done without.

[fullfathom5]

The English variant of C19 now accounts for over 89% of cases in the Vendee, hence the rapid rise in the numbers.

It accounts for over 90% of infections in the Greater Oslo area. Infection rates are going down at the moment after another round of lockdowns.

One British export we could have done without.

The 'English' variant may have originated in England or may just have been detected here as the UK are one of the world leaders in genome sequencing. It's no surprise that other countries with expertise in this area (such as Denmark and South Africa) have also detected variants. There are almost certainly many other variants circling around that are yet to be detected as the countries they have originated in don't have the capability to detect them.

[Ben@Forest]

The English variant of C19 now accounts for over 89% of cases in the Vendee, hence the rapid rise in the numbers.

It accounts for over 90% of infections in the Greater Oslo area. Infection rates are going down at the moment after another round of lockdowns.

One British export we could have done without.

It should be referred to as the B.1.1.7 variant, not “U.K. variant”.

[syklist]

The English variant of C19 now accounts for over 89% of cases in the Vendee, hence the rapid rise in the numbers.

It accounts for over 90% of infections in the Greater Oslo area. Infection rates are going down at the moment after another round of lockdowns.

One British export we could have done without.

It should be referred to as the B.1.1.7 variant, not “U.K. variant”.

Why?
Edit: I didn't use the phrase merely replied to another post.

[Ben@Forest]

It accounts for over 90% of infections in the Greater Oslo area. Infection rates are going down at the moment after another round of lockdowns.

One British export we could have done without.

It should be referred to as the B.1.1.7 variant, not “U.K. variant”.

Why?

As was explained above (and has been widely explained in the media for at least the last three months) there is no way of knowing the English or Kent variant is a 'British export'. It was simply identified here and for all we know its origin was elsewhere. The biotech, pharma and life sciences magazine Stat + says:

When President Trump referred to the “Chinese virus,” the media were quick to point out problems with this terminology, lambasting it as xenophobic and racist. But as new variants appear, some media outlets are doing the same thing: talk of the “British,” “Brazilian,” and “South African” Covid-19 variants abounds. Even scientific journals are using this terminology.

But labeling viral variants by their geographic origin is incorrect. Just as the “China virus” should be called SARS-CoV-2 or the novel coronavirus, so too should new variants be described by their proper nomenclature: B.1.1.7, not “U.K. variant” and P.1, not the “Brazilian variant.” .....

....Britain may have been the first to report the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, but that doesn’t mean the variant originated there. Instead, it’s possible that the virus was first detected in Britain because of the country’s particularly robust system of virus surveillance and genetic testing. This has happened before....