Navigating COVID language traps

I have been thinking and arguing about COVID-19 terminology since the pandemic started. I am especially interested in how public health professionals—both officials and outside experts—talk about COVID.

There are terms that public health professionals often use imprecisely. There are terms they often use incorrectly. And there are terms they often use in a way that's technically accurate but almost sure to be misunderstood by much of the public. Then, when they're predictably misunderstood, they claim they were clear and the public is "confused."

Politicians and journalists fall into these COVID language traps too. But for obvious reasons public health professionals should be held to a higher standard. And if they can do a better job of communicating clearly about COVID, maybe there's hope that others will improve as well.

Here are some of my musings about COVID language traps. This isn't truly an article. It's a list. Read the entries that interest you.

I have posted an unabridged version of this non-article article that's twice as long—with more terms and more details on each term—on my website.

Read full article here.