| German Chancellor Angela Merkel labeled it the British virus. In the U.K., it's called the Kent variant. Perhaps in the English county where a new coronavirus strain began to spread, the citizens of Royal Tunbridge Wells refer to the Canterbury, Margate or Dover mutation. Nobody likes lending their country or community's name to a virus, especially one that's said to be even more infectious than the original version than the original version that's killed millions. Attaching a place to a pathogen can look like scapegoating—or worse, racism. Former President Donald Trump was known for calling the bug that emerged a little over a year ago the "China virus." This nomenclature fed a wave of xenophobia in the early days of the pandemic. China has countered with efforts to obfuscate the origins of the virus.  The departures area at London Gatwick Airport. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg A proliferation of new variants, labeled by the places where they were identified, has fueled this trend. First came the so-called U.K. strain; it was followed by versions pinned on South Africa, Brazil and Kenya. There'll surely be others, because viruses mutate all the time. As with the Spanish flu, which wasn't really Spanish, we don't actually know for sure where the new coronavirus strains began. The U.K. may have been saddled with the unfortunate distinction of having a killer bug named after it because of Britain's expertise in genome sequencing. When U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new strain, the European Union largely shut its borders to Britons and created a massive freight backlog. The U.K. responded by playing up the dangers of the South African and Brazilian strains and cutting off travel from those countries and others. Travel bans and other restrictions make sense if they actually slow the spread of the virus. But some of the new variants have already spread widely beyond their purported home countries. The International Health Regulations Emergency Committee last week urged the World Health Organization to develop a standardized system for naming new coronavirus variants that avoids geographical markers. With the U.S. moving swiftly to re-engage with the group under President Joe Biden, it's a good time to seek greater coordination and harmony in the world's fight against the pandemic. Because names matter.—Eric Pfanner | 
◂‹〖DownLoad〗 2020 Falling Full Movie Online released 2020. story: John Peterson lives with his partner Eric and their adopted daughter in ...
Post a Comment