Vocabulary in the Time of COVID-19

In working in your genealogy, have you ever wondered what an adze was, or what it meant when your ancestor was consumptive, or what in the world a futtock was for?  (Okay, stop giggling.)

Well, in the past month or so, we have been introduced to a number of new words and phrases pertaining to COVID-19.  Here are some of them:

Shelter-in-Place:  Basically, stay home!  Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are for people to stay home and not make contact with other people in large groups, to avoid exposure and thereby prevent the spread of the disease.  Going out infrequently for essential items (groceries, medications, and such as these) can be done, but carefully.

Self-Quarantine:  As it involves the word "quarantine," it connotes a more severe severing of contact with people in groups.  It also is applied to people who have tested positive for the disease (these tests being few and far between, and unfortunately less available in some states than in others), or who exhibit symptoms.  Rather than a means of avoiding exposure for those who are not yet infected, as shelter-in-place is, self-quarantine is a means of preventing those who have active cases from infecting others.  It is voluntary, rather than mandatory.

Flatten the Curve:  The possible rate and intensity of the spread of COVID-19 is expressed as a Bell curve.  The idea behind shelter-in-place (or self-quarantine) is to reduce the potential rate of the spread of the disease so that the Bell curve will not be as high as it would if people did congregate in large groups, infecting each other. 

Senior Hour:  An hour, usually the first of the business day, for essential commercial establishments (mainly grocery stores) to be open to older people, who are most vulnerable to the spread and effects of COVID-19.

Social Distancing:  Avoiding close contact with others by maintaining at MINIMUM a distance of six feet between you and other people.  Avoiding large crowds.  One meme on Facebook says that "Social distancing" is a boring term.  It's much more exciting to say "exiled for the good of the realm."  (Which actually would apply more to shelter-in-place or self-quarantine than to social distancing.)

Covidiot:  A person who does not follow the CDC guidelines for handwashing, sheltering-in-place, and more.  A person who congregates in large groups with other people.  A governor of a state, who does not implement the proper and rational precautionary measures to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 in his or her state.  Basically, any person who acts counter to his or her rational self-interest in this time of pandemic.

So, these days, people are encouraged to Shelter-in-Place and go out only for Senior Hour or to obtain essential supplies (for younger folks), practice Social Distancing, and generally not to be a Covidiot!