It matters what we call this disease.
The disease known popularly as just “coronavirus” has been dubbed COVID-19 or “coronavirus disease” by the World Health Organization. This term makes the disease distinct.
There are many coronaviruses, some cause mild colds, others cause more serious diseases, including SARS and MERS.
Using the term COVID-19 also avoids stigmatizing a particular location (e.g., Wuhan, China) and the people who live there.
The virus itself is known officially as “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2” or SARS-CoV-2.
