In 2020 we are living through an event that we will be talking about for years to come, even our grandchildren will be talking about it, the coronavirus pandemic. Not only has it created a new daily topic of conversation, it has also changed our vocabulary. Due to this worldwide pandemic lots of new words have come into use or other words, that were not commonly used, have either been given a new meaning or are now part of everyday communication. Today we are going to look at some of the most important ones that you need to talk about coronavirus.

 

 

Lockdown

This is the period of time that people were not allowed to leave the area or their houses due to an emergency. Many national lockdowns were implemented at the beginning of the pandemic and now some countries are using ‘local lockdowns’.

Example: ‘The UK government announced a national lockdown to try to halt the spread of coronavirus’.

 

Furlough

When the UK government announced it would provide financial help for companies that wanted to temporarily stop paying their employees without them leaving the company, the government used the word ‘Furlough’.

For example: Many flight attendants have been put on furlough due to the huge reduction in air travel.

Originally ‘furlough’ was used to describe when soldiers were given permission to take time off work, but now the meaning has changed to refer to the pandemic.

 

Asymptomatic 

This refers to a person that has no symptoms but tests positive for coronavirus.

‘Studies show most children appear to be asymptomatic’.

 

PPE

PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment and is the protective clothing i.e. masks, gloves and overalls that are used to prevent us from catching coronavirus.

Example: Hospitals are running out of PPE

 

Panic buying

This is when people buy a large quantity of a product because they worry it will be difficult to get these products in the future.

Tesco supermarket limited the sale of products like pasta, rice and toilet paper to try to stop panic buying.

There are loads of other words and expressions connected to the current pandemic, so keep an eye on my blog for future blog posts!