
G7 statement canceled: US wants to call it the Wuhan virus - payne
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/streit-um-wuhan-virus-a-6bb570bb-9f2b-4cd1-a895-fdeabf53f6b4
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zebnyc
My wife is part of a Mom's group based in the bay area. One of the mom's in
that group (who happens to be Taiwanese), wrote a post about how she was a
victim of statements along the lines of a) "It is funny you want to practice
social distance when it is you folks who brought the virus here" b) "How dare
you show your face here during this time..."

And this was by the folks working at the checkout counter (with passive
support from other shoppers there). IMHO calling it Chinese / Wuhan virus
opens the gate to these kind of hate crimes to become common place.

My wife, who is Asian, is terrified to go shopping.

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meowface
My friend who is Asian (not Chinese) says she and her family are experiencing
similar treatment. They get stared at harshly everywhere they go, which never
happened before this crisis. They also don't want to go out anymore to get
necessities because of this.

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lostmsu
To be fair "getting stared harshly" may be them dreaming that up.

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maccam912
I understand "coronavirus" isn't specific, but why not just use that? Nobody
this year will be confused what is being talked about. And if another
coronavirus comes around, it will end up with a different commonly used name.
Hearing "Chinese virus" the first time made me think first of a computer
virus, then some brand new virus I wasn't aware of, and then finally realizing
it was another term for the coronavirus.

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klodolph
The fact that it’s not specific enough really is a problem. We can call it
COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2, but that kind of precision is inconvenient.

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maccam912
Fair. COVID-19 would also work for me. That's used enough that people know
immediately what you're talking about.

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artemonster
COVID-19 is a _disease_ caused by SARS-CoV-2, just as AIDS caused by HIV.

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keymone
Point is, nobody will be confused when you say COVID-19 or more specifically
“COVID-19 virus” where context demands it.

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hyko
The correct name for virus is SARS-CoV-2. The resultant disease it causes in
humans is named COVID-19. Simple.

Anyone is free to make up whatever names they like, and the rest of the world
is free to ignore them and use the correct names.

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bdamm
Is it SARS-CoV-2 or is it 2019-nCoV? Seems to depend on the context.

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detaro
Apparently, 2019-nCoV was the earlier label, until they decided to classify it
more precisely as a SARS-type:
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-0695-z](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-0695-z)

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jpalomaki
Naming virused by places creates incentive to keep things hidden as long as
possible - hoping that it will become public in some other place first.

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Kye
That's how "Spanish Flu" happened when the first detection was in Kansas.

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erentz
SARS-CoV-2 is a bit overwrought. A semi official short version would be
helpful.

SARS was easy.

SARS2 seems okay.

CV19 is easy enough.

So on. Officials should pick something that’s shorter and easier (but still
specific) as the informal name.

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opless
SARS2 seems to be a rational name

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ilamont
I looked for an English version of this news without luck. Anyone have another
source?

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scotty79
China should decide the name since they discovered it.

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tomp
What the article doesn't say, is that China _too_ is desperately blaming other
countries for the virus; not just the US, but also Italy.

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TheAdamAndChe
The US calling it The China Virus et al is in response to Chinese officials
blaming the virus on American troops. It's all just politics, not racism.

That said, I'm not sure it's a good discussion to have on this site..

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threatofrain
> It's all just politics, not racism.

It's going to end up as both, because in public speaking, we don't control our
meaning -- the people do. The branding power of the "Chinese Virus" is going
to reach Asians across America.

~~~
TheAdamAndChe
Then how should higher-level geopolitics and popular sentiment modification be
carried out better? China is undoubtedly leveraging every bit of power they
have to sow popular opinion against the US. How can the US counter that
without bringing claims of racism?

Edit: removed snark

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benjohnson
I can understand the desire to not want to stigmatize the people of China and
people of Chinese decent.

But we should not let the Chinese leadership off the hook for continuing the
disgusting Wet Markets.

Let's meet half-way and give it a short pronounceable name:

Call it the PROCVirus - named after the government of the People's Republic of
China.

