British virus on the rise here
More on how the British variant of the coronavirus will soon be dominant here. So if you find yourself drinking tea and watching “The Crown”, you’d better go get tested.
We’ll be lucky if the Brazilian variant doesn’t get here, with their president all but cheering it on as that country faces a growing death toll. And you know what the side effects of that version are likely to be.
Nick 17:19 on 2021-03-05 Permalink
Which variant of the China virus is worse? Uk Brazil or South Africa variant? Is it any different naming the variants after their country of origin than the novel virus itself?
Kate 10:59 on 2021-03-06 Permalink
That’s a relevant question, but at this point it may help health authorities identify variants based on where a patient has been visiting. But I’m just guessing here. Maybe it’s easier to mention the place than an arbitrary block of letters and numbers.
GC 11:35 on 2021-03-06 Permalink
One big difference is I don’t think people are generally blaming the British for the variant (though someone somewhere might be…), whereas calling it “China virus” and believing the Chinese created it in a lab taps into a very real pool of racism.
But, yes, it might be good to find another shorthand for them. But what?
Chris 14:40 on 2021-03-06 Permalink
Bit off-topic maybe, but why is “China virus” politically incorrect and “British/Brazilian/South African variant” ok? Is it just ‘because Trump’?
Kate 10:37 on 2021-03-07 Permalink
According to the CDC, the UK variant is known as B.1.1.7, the South African as B.1.351, and the Brazilian as P.1.
Chris, Trump is a big reason, because he clearly wanted to impute blame to China, even suggesting the virus had been engineered in a lab there. Whereas these variants have been traced by identifying travellers from specific locations. Also, it’s easier, as I said above, to give a name to the variant rather than talking about B.1.351 or whatever.
As GC says, nobody is blaming the UK or Brazil for a viral mutation happening in their population.
MarcG 11:43 on 2021-03-07 Permalink
It could be that in places with pre-existing hatred towards those countries that there is blame and conspiracy happening that we’re not aware of. For example it seems like Argentinians and Brazillians have some kind of rivalry, perhaps the “Brazil virus” has inflamed that conflict. Just speculating, of course.
Chris 13:38 on 2021-03-07 Permalink
>As GC says, nobody is blaming the UK or Brazil for a viral mutation happening in their population.
Dunno about that. As MargG says, humans everywhere have rivalry/hatred towards in/out groups.
I’ve seen op eds against using the term ‘South African variant’ for example:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/2/12/its-time-we-stopped-using-the-term-south-africa-variant
It just strikes me as inconsistent for people to get their knickers in a knot about “China virus” but not the other terms (not saying anyone here).
MarcG 14:22 on 2021-03-07 Permalink
Chris: It’s simply based on context and intent. “China virus” in North America is a tool of division while “UK virus” has no weight.
Tim S. 15:03 on 2021-03-07 Permalink
Actually, given that the virus is most likely to mutate in places that are having difficulty containing the spread, maybe a little bit of blame is in order, especially if there are political reasons for the lack of containment:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/03/brazil-covid-global-threat-new-more-lethal-variants-miguel-nicolelis
And I don’t have a link, but I’ve heard of Europeans being similarly unimpressed with the UK’s efforts. At least pre-vaccination.
GC 17:55 on 2021-03-07 Permalink
I don’t know about other places, but I haven’t heard that Montreal has shown a spike in hate crimes against people with British accents.