The role media can play in managing the COVID-19 outbreak and a glossary of terms

The role media can play in managing the  COVID-19 outbreak and a glossary of terms

by Sukumar Rockwood, Chief Executive Officer, Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a ‘mystery pneumonia’ on December 31, 2019. Since then, the ‘mysterious pneumonia’  has come to be known as SARS-CoV-2 and identified as a disease that has been named by the WHO as COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019).

by Sukumar Rockwood, Chief Executive Officer,

Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka

The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a ‘mystery pneumonia’ on December 31, 2019. Since then, the ‘mysterious pneumonia’  has come to be known as SARS-CoV-2 and identified as a disease that has been named by the WHO as COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019). Almost instantly, since its appearance, it has spread to every country in the world. The spread was fearsome and instant while we watched aghast.

 

As of November 08, 2020, 49,945,364 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported globally, including 1,250,275 deaths. Confirmed cases have been reported in 216 countries, areas or territories.

 

The media have been following every step of this journey – with multiple stories, incessant headlines, photographs and continuous updates across the past few weeks. Journalists of all media be it electronic (digital) or print have a very special duty to inform and educate people. Inform accurately and educate as to what actions one takes in this pandemic. A challenge is before journalists besides informing and educating is to help save lives and not blow it out of proportion.

 

The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) has searched the web to assist in preparing this Glossary of terms for journalist covering the COVID-19 pandemic. Journalists need to know the meaning of the words and thereby with the correct word explain better and clearly the correct story.

 

Given below is an updated version of terms that will certainly help journalists understand the meaning of the words and report clearly and accurately with the appropriate word.

 

Asymptomatic

When carriers of a disease do not show signs or symptoms of a disease, but can still transmit it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID-19 likely has a two to 14-day incubation period, based on what they have seen with other corona viruses.

 

Bubble

A bubble is defined as a group of people with whom you have close physical contact. Example; A single adult parent with a child under 18 years or a family.

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The main headquarters coordinating activities in a country in identifying, controlling, preventing and treatment of COVID-19 cases.

 

Case fatality rate (CFR)

The death rate. An estimate of the risk of mortality from a contagious disease. The CFR is calculated by dividing the number of deaths caused by a disease by the number of cases of that disease in a given time period.

 

Chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine

Drugs primarily used to treat and prevent malaria. Clinical trials of these drugs are underway, but early evidence is still not clear they prove useful.

 

Close contact

A person who may be at risk of a contagious disease because of their proximity or exposure to a known case. For COVID-19, the CDC defines a close contact as anyone who has been within 6 feet of a person infected with the virus for a prolonged period of time, or has had direct contact with the infected person’s secretions.

 

Cluster

A disease cluster or infection cluster is a group of similar health events that have occurred in the same area around the same time.

 

Community transmission/spread

Infections identified in a given geographic area without a history of travel elsewhere, and no connection to a known case.

 

Contagious and infectious often cause confusion, as the words overlap in significant ways, yet also have meanings which are in some ways distinct. Contagious is “transmissible by direct or indirect contact with an infected person,” and infectious is “producing or capable of producing infection” and “containing pathogenic agents which may be transmitted.” Both infectious and contagious diseases are caused by bacteria and viruses; they differ in that contagious diseases may be spread by direct or indirect contact.

 

Confirmed cases

The number of cases that have been confirmed by diagnostic testing. The actual number of cases that exist is likely much higher.

 

Contact tracing

The process of identifying, assessing and managing people who have been exposed to a contagious disease to prevent onward transmission.

 

Cordon sanitaire (see also isolation, quarantine)

The restriction of movement in and out of a region or city, which prevents anyone from leaving a defined geographic area infected by a disease to stop its spread.

 

Corona virus

A family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). The novel coronavirus recently discovered has been named SARS-CoV-2, and it causes COVID-19.

 

COVID-19

The name of the disease caused by the novel corona virus, SARS-CoV-2, which is short for “Corona Virus Disease 2019.” If you’re sick, you have COVID-19. You were infected by SARS-CoV-2.

 

Drive-through testing

Testing in which individuals remain in their vehicles, and medical staff in protective gear come to administer the swab test. Afterward, swabs are sent to a laboratory for testing.

 

Droplet transmission/spread

A mode of transmission for a contagious disease that involves relatively large, short-range — less than 6 feet — respiratory droplets produced by sneezing, coughing or talking.

 

Elective surgeries

Procedures that are considered non-urgent and non-essential. During periods of community transmission, the CDC is recommending that elective procedures, surgeries and non-urgent outpatient visits be postponed.

 

Endemic

A disease that regularly infects humans, like the flu, strep throat or any common illness. There are four coronavirus strains that commonly infect humans, usually manifesting as colds.

 

Epidemic

An increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in that area. When there are enough outbreaks, in places beyond that initial spot, that amounts to an epidemic.

 

Essential activities

Tasks that are essential to an individual’s health or safety or the health and safety of their family or household members, which may include obtaining food or medicine, seeking urgent medical attention or other necessary purposes.

 

Essential government functions

All services needed to ensure the continuing operation of the government agencies and provide for the health, safety and welfare of the public.

 

Fever

Generally, a fever is when the body temperature exceeds 100.4°F, according to the CDC.

 

Flattening the curve

Slowing a virus’ spread to reduce the peak number of cases and related demands on hospitals and infrastructure, which could result in more deaths.

 

Fomite

An inanimate object that can be the vehicle for transmission of an infectious agent (e.g., bedding, towels or surgical instruments). There is evidence that corona virus spreads via fomites, although this is a less common route of transmission.

 

Herd immunity

When enough people become immune to a disease — either through exposure or via a vaccine — that the spread of the disease begins to slow, or stop, within a population.

 

Home isolation

The directive persons who have symptoms or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 have been given, to stay at home until they are recovered.

 

Incubation

The length of time between when an infection begins and when there are apparent signs of the disease.

 

Index case

Is defined as the first documented case of an infectious disease or genetically transmitted condition or mutation in a population, region, or family.

 

Index patient

Is defined as an individual affected with the first known case of an infectious disease or genetically transmitted condition or mutation in a population, region, or family.

Isolation

Separating people sick with a contagious disease from those who are not sick.

 

MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome)

Another type of corona virus. The acronym refers to the illnesses, while MERS-CoV refers to the disease.

 

Modes of transmission

How a virus spreads from one person to another. Respiratory infections can be transmitted through droplets of different sizes.

 

N95 respirator (surgical mask)

Personal protective equipment that is used to protect the wearer from airborne particles and from liquid contaminating the face. Face masks are simply a physical barrier, while respirators tend to be tighter fitting and have an element of air filtration.

 

Negative-pressure rooms

Rooms specifically designed for patients with contagious diseases that contain circulating air to prevent them from being released into any other part of the hospital, allowing air to flow into the isolation room but not escape from the room.

 

Novel

Meaning “new,” a novel corona virus is a strain that hasn’t been detected in humans before. The virus responsible for the current epidemic is often called the novel corona virus.

 

Outbreak

An outbreak is “a sudden rise in the incidence of a disease”.

 

Pandemic

An epidemic that has spread over several countries/continents, usually affecting a large number of people.

 

Patient zero

Is defined as a person identified as the first to become infected with an illness or disease in an outbreak.

 

Person-to-person spread

When the virus has been transmitted due to close contact between people, whether the interaction involves actual physical contact or just a cough or sneeze in close quarters, which is different than when a disease is spread via contaminated surfaces or via animals.

 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Masks, gloves, face shields and other gear that keeps health care workers from catching an infection.

 

Physical distancing

Measures taken to reduce person-to-person contact in a given community, in order to stop or slow down the spread of a contagious disease. The World Health Organization suggests the term “physical distancing” instead of “social distancing” to stress the importance of separating people physically while keeping them socially connected.

 

Pneumonia

When the small air sacs of the lungs (alveoli, the structures where gases from the atmosphere are exchanged with the blood) become inflamed and fill up with fluid. A possible symptom of COVID-19.

 

Public health emergency

An official designation that can help the government access special funds and resources to address the emergency.

 

Quarantine

Separating and restricting the movement of people exposed, or potentially exposed, to a contagious disease.

 

R0/reproductive rate

An epidemiological metric used to describe the contagiousness or transmissibility of infectious agents. It is an estimate of the average number of new cases of a disease that each case generates, at a given point in time. R0 estimates for the virus that causes COVID-19 are around 2 to 3, which is slightly higher than that for seasonal influenza (R0 ~1.2-1.3), but far lower than more contagious diseases such as measles (R0 ~12 – 18).

 

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)

A technology used for COVID-19 diagnostic testing. It looks for the virus’s genetic signature.

 

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus 2)

The name of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease.

 

Self-quarantine

The act of staying home and away from other people as much as possible after exposure.

 

Serological tests

A diagnostic test that looks for antibodies (a blood protein built to help fight off a specific virus or pathogen), which could tell if someone has ever been infected with COVID-19, and could suggest they are possibly immune.

 

Shelter in place

All people must remain at their place of residence, except to conduct essential activities, essential businesses, and essential government functions.

 

Stay-at-home order

Enforceable restrictions on where residents can go in an effort to limit the spread of the novel corona virus. Those who violate the order may be detained, fined or even given jail time.

 

Social distancing (see also physical distancing)

Measures taken to reduce person-to-person contact in a given community, in order to stop or slow down the spread of a contagious disease. These can include working from home, closing offices and schools, canceling events and avoiding public transportation.

 

Support Bubble

Some households join together with the aim of helping each other who have been cut off from friends and family. In some countries single adults living alone or single parents whose children are under 18 form a support bubble with other household/s.

 

Super-spreader

A super-spreader (also written as superspreader) is “an individual who is highly contagious and capable of transmitting a communicable disease to an unusually large number of uninfected individuals.”

 

Symptomatic

When someone is showing symptoms of a particular illness or a disease. For COVID-19, common symptoms include fever, cough or shortness of breath.

 

Therapeutics

Drugs that lessen the severity of disease symptoms or keep people from getting severely sick or dying.

 

Vaccine

A formulation to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies for a pathogen in the hope of providing immunity to that pathogen.

 

Ventilator

A device or machine that delivers air into the lungs through a tube that is placed into the mouth or nose and down into the windpipe.

 

Virus

Virus has been used to describe something unwelcome for hundreds of years before it became a term for ‘the reason your computer is doing that funny thing that really isn’t funny at all.’ The word comes from classical Latin in which it referred a number of things which might make one wish to wash their hands (venom, pus, and poisonous emanations). The biological sense we all know and fear today (“any of a large group of submicroscopic infectious agents that are usually regarded as nonliving extremely complex molecules, that typically contain a protein coat surrounding an RNA or DNA core of genetic material but no semipermeable membrane, that are capable of growth and multiplication only in living cells, and that cause various important diseases in humans, animals, and plants”) began being used around the beginning of the 20th century. Prior to this virus had such meanings as “venom emitted by a poisonous animal,” and “a morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or moral conditions.”

 

Viral shedding

The period of time after the virus has replicated in the host and is being emitted.

 

Zoonotic

Zoonotic diseases exist in animals but can also infect humans. COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease.

 

Sources: Global Health Policy’s Corona virus (COVID-19) Outbreak Glossary, CNN’s Pandemic, COVID-19 and all the corona virus terms you need to know, Vox’s Ventilator vs. respirator, quarantine vs. isolation: COVID-19 pandemic terms, defined, FDA’s Corona virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Merriam Webster.

 

-/end-Sukumar/PCCSL – Updated Nov. 11, 2020

 

 

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