Blue View – A Whole New Vocabulary

The Corona Virus Pandemic has introduced a whole new vocabulary

Imagine you are just today finishing a 10 week passage on your sailboat from Cape Town to Charleston, SC. You arrive at the marina at the Charleston Maritime Center (arguably our favorite marina on the East Coast), raise the yellow Q flag, and await the Customs and Border Patrol guys to arrive to check you in. When you left Cape Town, there were rumors of a new pandemic, something called the coronavirus, but you’ve been pretty much out of touch except for weather reports.

The dockmaster stops by, who, strangely enough, is wearing a face mask and, from a distance, informs you that you need to shelter in place until further notice. If you have any Covid-19 symptoms, you’ll be required to self-quarantine for 14 days. When you are allowed to leave the boat, the stay at home order is still in effect, and you can only leave for essential trips. Remember, only essential businesses are open. You’ll need to don your face mask, and that because of the new outbreak science guidelines, you’ll be required to observe social distancing rules. “We’re trying to flatten the Covid-19 curve here”.

Huh?

Not only has our world changed, but I can’t think of any other time in history during which our vocabulary has changed so much in so short a period. There are a whole host of words and expressions in everyone’s lexicon that were unknown – at least to us – just a few scant weeks ago. Marcie and I came up with a list of all the topical terms we could think of that are new to us – or certainly weren’t in common usage as recently as February. I added explanations or definitions for some. Others are now so commonly used that they require no definition – unless you’ve been at sea for the past three months.

Social Distancing. I think we all know what this is, but a lot of people still don’t get it. I used to look forward to our once a week grocery trip, but now I dread it. I know some crusty old codger my age who’s not wearing a mask is going to brush up against me while reaching to get something off the shelf.

Tactical Dispersal. The military term for social distancing.

The New Normal (or Abnormal). Does a day go by that we don’t hear about some other aspect of our lives that is or will be the new lifestyle norm?

PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). I’ve used dust masks when spray painting or sanding, and a Tyvek suit on occasion, but I didn’t know they were part of my ‘PPE’.

N95 Mask. Nor did I realize the dust masks I was using were N95 masks – the good ones – in the old days when it was possible to drop by Lowes and buy a box.

Flatten the Curve.

Contact Tracing.

Antibody Testing.

Covid-19.

Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. We actually did know about hydroxychloroquine, but as an anti-malarial drug when we were in South Africa. After assessing the likelihood of contracting malaria versus the potential side effects of the drug, we decided to give it a pass.

Epidemic vs Pandemic.

Essential Businesses.

Shelter in Place.

Stay at Home Order.

Stimulus Checks. Still haven’t gotten ours yet.

PPP (Payroll Protection Plan).

Self Isolate/Self Quarantine.

Outbreak science. This is a new science that uses artificial intelligence and infectious disease modeling to support public health decision making. One important aspect of outbreak science is that it encourages the sharing of data and science between different researchers and groups.

I’m sure there are several we’ve missed… just as I’m sure there will be another dozen or so invented in the weeks and months to come. I hope Wikipedia can keep up.