The Covid pandemic has introduced the whole world to a plethora of language that we may not have used much before March 2020.
These new words and phrases have shaped our understanding of the stark changes that have become part of our everyday lives.
In February 2020, if we heard someone talking about lockdown, l ateral flow tests, track and trace or the Omicron variant, we wouldn't have a clue what they were on about, and might have given them strange looks if they had explained themselves.
But fast forward two years and with all the media reports we have consumed, we have all been introduced to a brand new set of vocabulary.
We have put a list together of all the common words and phrases that we now use almost every day that you wouldn't have heard before the pandemic.
Coronavirus/ Covid-19
Coronavirus or Covid-19 are words that we all use every single day, we see them, we hear them and we read them.
Coronavirus restrictions
When Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK into national lockdown in March 2020, we were introduced to the idea of 'c oronavirus restrictions' for the first time.
We then spent months under the harshest restrictions many of us had ever experienced.
Essential workers
Millions of people in the UK had to attend work during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, risking their own lives to help others.
Many professions included doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, teachers and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers.
Omicron variant
UK scientists became aware of the new strain 'Omicron' – also known as B.1.1.529 – on November 23 after samples were uploaded to a coronavirus variant tracking website from South Africa, Hong Kong and then Botswana.
Delta Varient
The Delta variant was first identified in India in late 2020. It swept rapidly through that country and over to the UK where it quickly surged.
Pandemic
Despite warnings from many experts that humanity would face more global pandemics, most were lucky enough that such an event did not have an impact on their everyday lives for many decades.
When the World Health Organisation deemed Covid-19 an official pandemic, it began a period when we would become all too familiar with the term.
Self isolation
Self isolation is spoken about daily as the automatic first step after developing symptoms of Covid or testing positive.
We fear it, discuss it, and endure it in an effort to protect others from infection.
Elbow bump
Once it became clear that our usual pleasantries, such as shaking hands or hugging, would cause a risk of virus transmission, society needed to establish some new agreed norms.
Enter the elbow bump, now the awkward manifestation of physical interaction of choice for most.
But some still prefer to keep their distance.
Outbreak
Outbreaks at work, in our communities, in our homes, and seemingly everywhere we look.
Close contact
Has a friend, colleague, family member, or even a stranger you've been near recently tested positive for Covid?
Then better grab yourself a test because you might just be a dreaded "close contact".
Non-essential shops
Cast yourself back to a time when your favourite retail stores closed and you couldn't buy certain items in your local supermarket because they were deemed non-essential.
It's sometimes hard to believe that we were once banned from buying items of clothing at a supermarket as they were classed as 'non essential'.
Disinfect
We all heard of disinfectant but since Covid we have all been encouraged to disinfect food shopping, door handles, office desks and much more.
Furlough
Furlough has always been a term denoting a leave of absence but since the pandemic began it has taken on a whole new meaning.
A scheme was set up by the UK Government to pay 80% of the wages of employees whose roles were essentially not operating due to the pandemic.
Some people were delighted to be furloughed, while it amounted to a living nightmare for others.
Lockdown
A frightening word, even before the pandemic, that suggests an awful event has occurred.
In March 2020, the entirety of the UK found themselves in a lockdown that rendered our streets, roads, trains and buses completely deserted for the first time.
United in our sudden lonely plight, we clapped on doorsteps together, piled into Zoom quizzes, sometimes sang together, and generally banded together in an effort to keep the blues at bay.
In later lockdowns some of that goodwill seemed to evaporate as we became used to the concept.
Welsh Government Covid review
We soon became very familiar with this phrase at the very beginning of the pandemic when First Minister Mark Drakeford began to hold regular conferences with the people of Wales updating them on what was happening in relation to the pandemic.
Ventilation
Ventilation may have been familiar to you as something you do to get rid of moisture in your bathroom, but since the pandemic we have learned that ventilation is key to help us stop the spread of Covid.
Opening a window or a door can help remove air that contains virus particles and prevent its spread.
Infection rate
We have all had to learn how to interpret the data to understand how the pandemic is affecting us.
Early on, we began to hear the phrase "infection rate"; the term given to the number of cases in an area per 100,000 people. The infection rate has helped us compare prevalence of Covid between areas with varying population sizes.
Zoom
Zoom Video Communications has been around since 2011 but became a widely used piece of software when the pandemic began in March 2020. It's allowed us to see family members, work collogues, friends and much more.
Quarantine
The curse of anyone who dares travel overseas post-March 2020.
Avoiding a situation where you have to quarantine has become a huge concern for a lot of people.
Social distance
If you met a friend in a park before March 2020 and they insisted you keep two metres away from them at all times, you might have suspected you had a hygiene issue to resolve.
Fast forward two years and we are all used to being more aware of our personal space and are reminded to do so throughout our everyday lives.
Working from home
For many of us the idea of working from home once seemed like an impossible dream, but since Covid a lot of people have had to clear spaces in their homes for work.
Some have discovered a welcome readjustment to their work/ life balance, others have felt cut off from colleagues and feel desperate to re-establish that social contact through their work. Many more have possibly experienced both.
Whatever your feeling on working from home (often shortened to WFH the term has become so ubiquitous), it's definitely changed many lives.
PCR test
PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction, a method widely used to rapidly make millions of copies of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detail.
It's been a term familiar with chemists since the 1980s, but many of us now think of it as the most accurate form of test to determine if you have caught Covid.
We associate it with travelling to a discreet location near our homes to shove a swab down our throats and into our noses, before depositing it in a little bin and nervously awaiting the result.
Lateral flow test
These are simple devices designed to detect a target substance in a liquid sample without the need for expensive specialised equipment.
A standard home pregnancy test is a lateral flow test. But again, we've all become used to thinking of LFTs as a purely Covid-related phenomenon.
Face masks
A face mask used to have positive associations with slathering a bunch of beauty products onto one's face and taking a picture of it for the Instagram story.
Not any more. Want to go into that shop? Ride that bus? Not get dirty looks on the train? Then you'd better unfold that bit of cloth from your pocket and cover up.
NHS Test and Trace
The NHS Test and Trace service has been vital since it was introduced to us during the pandemic, it's enabled us know when we have been in close contact with those who have Covid.
But it's not without its issues. Many report inconsistencies and the 'pingdemic' saw many industries struggle as millions of workers were required to isolate causing staffing problems in hospitals, the care sector, transport networks, and everywhere in between.
PPE
Many of those who work in the care sector would have been very familiar with the term PPE before the pandemic, now we are all aware of how important PPE is to those who work on the front line and also protecting ourselves.
Fatality rate
We would normally come across the term 'fatality rate' after major incidents or statists from other diseases but unfortunately due to Covid it is a term that we've come to hear every day.
Asymptomatic
A blessing and a curse. You might feel absolutely fine, but asymptomatic Covid cases still need to keep inside and avoid contact with others to stop the spread to people whose bodies might have a far more severe reaction to the virus.
Moderna, Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer vaccine
Which one did you have? Can you even remember?
Vaccine names have become common to hear people discuss on the news and in our daily lives.
The fact humanity managed to develop so many vaccines to a newly-discovered pathogen so quickly is nothing short of miraculous, and it is this incredible feat we have to thank for the comparative normality we are enjoying today.
That so many continue to bleat on about their right not to take a vaccine does then tend to grate on those who understand their value and how fortunate we are to live in a country where they are abundant.
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