As the big man tried drawing a distinction between those who had died “from” or “with” COVID-19, I exclaimed “Lord, have mercy!”
Until his television distinction, the common WHO usage was that, people with “underlying conditions” like diabetes, hypertension, and heart conditions are more predisposed to suffer adversely from COVID-19.
The new acrobatic semantics of death “with” or “from” the pandemic therefore took me by surprise!
Vocabulary
Since Dr Samuel Johnson produced the first official English Dictionary in 1755, new words have been added periodically to show the dynamic nature of language as a living entity. COVID-19 has brought its own vocabulary as is the case with all new situations. So, words and terms like “asymptomatic, social distancing” have become everyday words.
Renowned journalists like Madam Elizabeth Ohene and Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng have written excellent articles on new words and terminologies in the wake of COVID-19. However, one which caught my fancy was titled “coronally speaking, covidly expressed,”
The writer was Prof Nana Ama Amfo of the University of Ghana. In an email I sent complimenting her, I said “Prof, I found your article professorially humorous and “asymptomatically” interesting.”
The phenomenon of new words being introduced or modified to suit new situations is not new.
UN and Brahimi
At the beginning of this century at the UN Headquarters New York, every lecture was spiced with the name “Brahimi.” Lakhdar Brahimi was an Algerian diplomat who headed a team of experts convened by the Secretary-General Kofi Annan to consider making major Reforms in UN peacekeeping. The report submitted by the Brahimi Committee was hailed at the UN as an “international bestseller.” Subsequently every lecture was spiced with “as Brahimi said,” or “according to the Brahimi report…..”
Ghana
Here in Ghana terms like “it is in the pipeline” and “we are looking into it” as well as “capturing the commanding heights of the economy” were in vogue some years ago. More recently, the word “gargantuan” adopted centre stage of contemporary Ghanaian English usage. Currently, “Veronica bucket” enjoys prominence.
Lexicon
When it started in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, COVID-19 sounded far away. It was only an epidemic because it was localized. However, without any respect to passport and visa “protocols” (another new word), it jumped to Europe. Italy bore the brunt as Spain and the UK lost hundreds of human beings on a daily basis. At this stage, the WHO promoted the disease from an “epidemic” to a “pandemic” because it had graduated from a local disease in China to an international one!
Epicentre
Soon COVID 19 would jump across the Atlantic to the US where it transformed New York into the “epicentre” of the pandemic. On 28th May 2020, the US crossed the grim figure of 100,000 deaths to COVID-19. The pandemic continues to wreak havoc in Brazil and other South America countries
In Africa, the casualty figures have been relatively low. Initially, there was the wishful thinking that, the virus would not survive Africa’s high temperatures.
Ghana
When the first two cases were reported in March 2020 in Ghana, reality began to dawn on us. With COVID-19, some of the following words have entered our language.
Quarantine
A colleague who arrived from overseas in the third week of March 2020 was driven straight to a hotel with fellow travelers where they were “quarantined” for two weeks. Of the over a thousand tested, about ten percent proved positive. Being a new disease, COVID 19 has neither a known cure nor a vaccine. Subsequently, those who are suspected to have the disease are asked to “self-isolate” at home.
Initially, many who tested positive from the virus were people who had returned from overseas. The disease was thus “imported!” However, sooner than we all thought, people who had never stepped out of Ghana began testing positive. The new terminology for this was “community spread.”
“Preventive Protocols”
In the past, “protocol” was not a word commonly used. Now, it has joined routinely used COVID-19 vocabulary as we observe “preventive protocols.” We are told to “wash our hands with soap under running water.” The demonstration of hand washing made me feel that, until COVID-19 arrived, I did not know how to wash my hands correctly as a grandfather.
“Social distancing” has been the most difficult to observe. For a family of six living in a one room apartment, how is this possible? For children in pre-school and primary school, how can “social distancing” be enforced?
In the past, if one wore a “facemask” to a bank, one would be taken for a robber and shot on sight! Now, without a facemask, one is turned away. Time changes!
As infected people recovered, a new phenomenon of rejection by society reared its ugly head. Out of this, the word “stigmatization” came into prominence.
Conclusion
Though initially considered a local epidemic in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 is now an international pandemic. It is not unusual for new words and terminologies to emerge from any new situation. The “novel COVID-19” is no exception! Some “protocols” include:
1. Wash your hands with soap under running water
2. Hand sanitizer must be used.
3. Hygiene protocols must be observed.
4. Social distancing must be kept.
“These are not normal times,” hence a “new normal.”
We now “work from home” and have “virtual” meetings and church services!
If you have the symptoms of COVID-19, “don’t go the hospital.” Go through the above mentioned protocols and “self-quarantine.”
Finally, unless it is absolutely necessary to go out, “STAY AT HOME!”
Fellow Ghanaians, this too shall pass.
Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd)
Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association
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