No, I’m serious… what is Covid? I hear it all the time. Someone coughs, is it Covid? Someone sneezes, is it Covid? Some say they feel a bit under the weather, is it Covid? I even had the discussion with my parents at the weekend… ECIC (aka my wife) has a bit of a cold and they say, “has she got Covid?”
 
So, what is Covid?
To start with, “Covid” isn’t anything. The actual name for the disease cause by the Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus type 2 (SARS CoV2) was Covid-19; it was an acronym for COronaVirus Infectious Disease 2019. But now it has been reduced to a snappier “Covid”.
 
I have also been asked if someone has “caught covid”…NO! You cannot catch Covid-19, you can catch SARS CoV2, that is the name of the virus. It is so reminiscent of the horror show that was HIV back in the 1980s… even senior health professionals thought you could catch AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) …NO! You cannot catch AIDS, you can catch Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Covid-19 and AIDS are the names of the clinical diseases, not the causative viruses.
 
So, when we think about Covid-19 being a disease, a group of symptoms if you like, then the question “what is Covid-19?” actually starts to make more sense.