The coronavirus pandemic has been teaching us a lot about infectious disease and public health. But it is also introducing us to dozens of newly minted words and phrases, many of which are taking some of the edge off our ongoing health disaster.
Health educator Stuart Tomc of CV Sciences is with us today to help us stay up to speed with this new language and introduce us to some coronavirus-related technical nomenclature we can use to keep ourselves well.
1. Coronials: The coming generation conceived during all that time spent sheltering in place.
2. Quarantini: a martini mixed and consumed in conditions of confinement
3. Covidiot: Someone who ignores public safety recommendations
4. Maskne: An acne outbreak caused by facial coverings.
5. Zumping: Unable to meet in person and getting dumped over a Zoom call.
6. Coronanoia: Paranoia induced by conditions in the pandemic
7. Safecation: A holiday in a destination thought to be safe while the pandemic continues elsewhere.
8. Doomsurfing /doomscrolling: obsessively accessing upsetting news online
9. Coronacuts: Haircuts carried out at home, especially when less than successful
10. Quaranstream: Binge-watching Netflix shows while in quarantine.
Tomc would like to add three established medical terms to the expanding “pandemic lexicon”.
· Barrier immunity: Your first line against invading pathogens. Includes your skin, mucus membranes and gut lining. Your “armor”.
Innate immunity: Kicks in when your barrier immunity is breached; you get a paper cut, your skin turns red as your white blood cells fight invading microbes.
· Adaptive immunity: You produce protein antibodies, including T-cells, to stick to invading microbes and neutralize them.
“While using the new pandemic lingo will likely lift your spirits, successfully weathering the Covid-19 pandemic requires that our bodies have these three immune functions fully operational, made possible by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, regular exercise, balanced nutrition, quality sleep, and managed stress,” says Tomc.