Why is it socially acceptable to say āBritish variantā but not āChinese coronavirusā? Just saying, seems like a bit of a double standard
@rlamacraft That is a good question. I think it is mostly that people tend to blame the Chinese for this by calling it the Chinavirus or Chinese coronavirus. Asians or Asian-looking people have been assaulted at the start of the pandemic for this. Not sure if that's still the case, probably is. There's still a squabble about the origin of the virus.
The British variant is a variation of an existing virus, so that would seem to be a subtle difference there.
I still blame the Brits, of course. š
@trinsec Oi! šš But, thatās a fair point about the racist fallout for Asian people living in the West ā Iām not advocating for calling it the āChina virusā Iām just saying we should be consistent. Seems like the āBritish variantā is falling for the same problem as āSpanish fluā: the NHS is testing and reporting on variants whereas other places arenātā¦ *grumble grumble grumble*
@rlamacraft Well, we check for the UK and South-African variants here. And I think we check for mutations as well. Maybe it just so happens that the UK and SA areas have a real mutation going on that actually made a difference (easier to spread in this case)?