Ramping up language under the coronavirus

THE EDITOR: This is May 2020 and our global village is undergoing an onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. Citizens are instructed to remain at home as far as possible, and to cough in your sleeve, or in the crook of your arm.

Governments worldwide are educating citizens on the dos and don’ts of covid19. In an ongoing narrative, this pandemic brings a whole new lexicon into the public domain.

On March 12 in a press briefing citizens of TT were informed of the country’s first confirmed case of the coronavirus disease. With immediate effect another wave of covid19 terminology flooded the media.

Google searches were conducted to ascertain the precise function of the triage area for new patients and the step-down facilities for the ambulatory. Dictionaries were obtained to distinguish between a respirator and a ventilator, as well as to differentiate among communicable, infectious and contagious diseases.

Medical manuals were consulted on the function of PPE (personal protective equipment) in an attempt to understand why N95 and surgical face masks were reserved for front line medical practitioners, while for the general public homemade cloth masks sufficed.

YouTube videos that demonstrated the technique involved in obtaining a nasopharyngeal culture using a swab were viewed.

Frequently asked questions included: At what points was the transmission of covid19 a sporadic, local or community spread? What did primary, secondary and tertiary contact tracing mean? Are we to expect a second or third wave of the coronavirus?

In the days that followed only the essential services remained in operation. Healthy citizens who ventured out of their homes were advised to practise social distancing, since asymptomatic carriers might be at large. People experiencing mild symptoms of the virus were instructed to self-quarantine or self-isolate, while the Ministry of Education assured citizens that Carpha (Caribbean Public Health Agency) would ramp up testing.

Today, as we battle the cytokine storm the conversation on covid19 continues. We anxiously await new words, perhaps derivatives of hydroxychloroquine and baricitinib to enter the narrative while a vaccine for the virus is being sought.

For now, citizens are urged to adjust to the new normal in an attempt to flatten the curve. Undoubtedly, the citizenry will obtain a greater understanding of this pandemic as the new lexicon is transferred from person-to-person contact, until regularisation. Until then, stay home, stay safe, stay alive.

BONNIE BISSOON

via e-mail