Mar 30, 2021
The “New Flu”
Similar to how the narrator of the story “Slim” came up with a euphemism for his disease that he was diagnosed with in order to draw away the negative connotations related to his condition, we can do the same with Covid-19. By creating a euphemism or new name for the virus, we are able to talk about it in conversation that will not make people think of all the horrible things that have occurred as a result of its existence, and we can instead see it as just another typical virus that people catch. A euphemism that can be used instead of saying Covid-19 can either be the “New Flu” or “Flu 2.0” as both Covid-19 and the Flu had drastically changed the world during the heights of infection. Since we have already lived through the Flu and have developed dozens of vaccines to combat it, we no longer view the Flu as life threatening as we do with Covid, as the Flu is nothing new to us. Similarly, Covid will turn into the “New Flu” as there are already a small handful of vaccines developed with more being created, and sooner or later we will view Covid the same way that we view the Flu, as just a virus that people catch that makes you feel ill until you get past it. By referring to Covid as a “New Flu”, people will no longer be as afraid to contract the virus as they were at the height of the pandemic, which will eventually draw all the pain and suffering endured in the past year away from the name, as the term Covid-19 will become something of the past, and not a never ending global pandemic.
