Month: August 2022

Categories
Pandemic Pandemic Relationships

Zumping / Zumped

If your significant other dumped you over Zoom during the pandemic, then you’ve been zumped. This new term, a combination of Zoom and dumped, appeared around April 2020 just after lockdown started. Dating was mainly relegated to video conferencing apps.

Zumping appeared as a new word suggestion for the Collins Dictionary on 17 April 2020. It means to “dump a romantic partner via Zoom or another app” (plainname). The Urban Dictionary’s definition of zumped is to “abandon or desert (someone) via videoconference” (LyricalPoet).

An article written for the New York Post described zumping during the pandemic as “break[ing] up in multiple ways at once…’It didn’t help that the internet connection wasn’t great so we kept freezing, and I said, ‘We’re breaking up’ and we were! It was very surreal,” freelance writer and producer Julia Moser, 26, writes in BuzzFeed of being dumped over the videoconferencing app Zoom this month…For her and others, the app is now a place for conferences and catch-ups; happy hours and heartbreak.'” (Frishberg).

Good Morning America published an article just over two years ago about how the pandemic has changed the dating landscape. Whereas a normal Saturday pre-Covid could be spent in a bar meeting somone you swiped on an app, pandemic restrictions have limited dating to video conferencing apps. Almost half of all adults in the United States are quarantining alone which makes dating apps even more popular but breakups are still the same whether you’ve been ghosted or “zumped.” The article offers tips depending whether you’re the “zumper” or the “zumpee” (Ghanid).

For the ‘zumper’

1. Practice the Golden Rule: Have a script ready so you can deliver your message as gracefully as possible. Winging it often results in harsher words and tones than intended. Deliver a message that you would want someone to give you during a breakup, with compassion and messaging that would be best for you, and you’ll head in the right direction.

2. Leave them alone: Do not call or text to check up on the person. Studies show that both partners heal better with zero contact post-breakup.

3. Reflect: Why did this breakup happen? Was there a specific issue or were you just bored? If you’re bored, and this has been an issue before, you may have a dating pattern that should be addressed.

For the ‘zumpee’

1. Block them: As said above, zero contact is best to heal. As painful as it is, enlist the support of the people in your life who are positive and empathic.

2. Therapy: If the breakup is so painful that you’re having trouble functioning after a week, enlist the help of a virtual therapist to guide you through this time.

3. Be grateful: As sad as you feel right now, and as perfect as you thought the relationship was, it wasn’t. This breakup was a wake-up call about a fundamental incompatibility. Better to know now than to spend months or years in this state.

The We Love Hiphop Network posted a discussion on YouTube about being Zumped.

courtesy of The Blink Date

Social Media Trends as of August 27, 2022

Facebook #zumped: people are posting about this
Instagram #zumped: 16 posts

Google Trends: zumped appeared in late December 2019 and peaked but by the week of May 31, 2020 which suggests lockdown and quarantine restrictions made video conferencing apps the new way to tell your partner that you wanted out of the relationship.

zumped search term

Sources:

Frishberg, Hannah. “Latest trash dating term, ‘zumped,’ is what happens when heartbreak meets Zoom.” New York Post. April 14, 2020. URL: https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/now-theres-a-term-for-getting-dumped-over-zoom-zumped/.

Gandhi, Bela. “Dumped over Zoom: Why ‘zumping’ could be on the rise and how to handle it.” Good Morning America. April 24, 2020. URL: http://Dumped over Zoom: Why ‘zumping’ could be on the rise and how to handle it.

LyricalPoet. “Zumped.” Urban Dictionary. April 17, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Zumped.

plainname. “Zumping.” Collins Dictionary. 17 April 2020. URL: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/submission/22234/zumping.

We Love Hip Hop Network channel. “Zumped! Dumped On Zoom/ Are The Instagram Vs Battles Fair | We Love Hip Hop S5 E169.” YouTube. April 21, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhd0D0ANhVE.

Categories
Pandemic Virus

Intubated

I had never heard of the word “intubated” before the pandemic. This is a procedure where a tube is inserted into a person’s mouth or nose all the way down into their airway or trachea so that air can get through. The other end of the tube is connected to a machine that supplies oxygen. The oxygen may also be delivered through a mask instead of a tube (Cleveland Clinic). Some people who suffered very badly with Covid-19 were unable to breathe on their own so they had to be hooked up to a ventilator.

An article published on the Yale Medicine website explains that “if the body’s immune system does not fight off the infection, it can travel to the lungs and cause a potentially fatal condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In ARDS, the alveoli (tiny air sacs that allow oxygen to reach the blood stream and remove carbon dioxide) fill with fluid, which diminishes the lungs’ ability to provide vital organs with enough oxygen. ‘ARDS entails severe inflammation of the lungs, but the main problem is that it makes portions of the lungs unusable,’ Dr. Ferrante explains. ‘It can be very serious, and many of these patients will need to be on a ventilator’” (Macmillan). The length of time a patient can be on a ventilator can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. For longer periods of time, a surgeon will perform a tracheostomy whereby a hole is made in the patients neck and the tube is inserted into the trachea with the other end connected to the ventilator.

New Jersey still publishes the list of those who tested positive for Covid-19 which includes the number of those on ventilators: “There were 1,038 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported at 69 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Friday. Of those hospitalized, 105 are in intensive care and 37 are on ventilators” (Furst).

Social Media Trends as of August 24, 2022

*** Trigger warning – some images can be distressing to watch ***

Facebook #intubated: people are posting about this
TikTok #intubated: 13.9 million views

Google Trends: intubated is not a new term but the popularity of the search term peaked during the first week of April 2020 coinciding with the start of the pandemic.

Sources:

Furst, Camile. “N.J. reports 2,067 COVID cases, 8 death. 3 counties remain ‘high risk’ for transmission.” NJ.com. August 26, 2022. URL: https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2022/08/nj-reports-2067-covid-cases-8-deaths-only-3-counties-have-high-risk-for-transmission-cdc-says.html.

“Intubated.” Cleveland Clinic. URL: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22160-intubation#:~:text=Being%20intubated%20and%20being%20on%20a%20ventilator%20are%20related%2C%20but,a%20device%20that%20delivers%20air..

Macmillan, Carrie. “Ventilators and COVID-19: What You Need to Know.” Yale Medicine. June 2, 2020. URL: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/ventilators-covid-19#:~:text=Some%20people%20may%20need%20to,tube%20into%20the%20trachea.


Categories
Pandemic Pandemic Art

Face nappy/diaper

Love them or hate them, facemasks have played an important role in the fight against Covid-19. Some have mockingly referred to masks as a face nappy, the British version of face diaper.

The Urban Dictionary entry for face nappy reads:

“A face mask. Nappy is uk word for diaper

Mick: hell yeah! What that on your face fam?
Wasteman: it’s a face nappy bud! I can’t use public transport without wearing one” (Doxan).

The entry for face diaper in the Urban Dictionary is defined as:

“A mocking term in reference to face masks.

I’m so sick of wearing these face diapers every time I walk into a store” (fencetape).

Not everyone agrees with the benefits of wearing a “face diaper.” The Montana Free Press reported on a protest event held on October 10, 2021 where people gathered to speak up for parental rights while opposing mask mandates. “During a rally on the steps of the Montana Capitol Friday, Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, said ‘Can there be anything more inalienable than the right to breathe freely?. When I have been forced to put on a mask, I immediately find that my respiration shortens, I become closed in…My whole psyche is demented by this mask, this face diaper. So we have to protect our children’s right to breathe freely’” (Sakariassen).

The term “face nappy” appeared in a fact checker article written for the Australian Associated Press website on January 10, 2022 which disputed the claims of Dr. Graham Lyon who said that “face nappy (mask) wearing…they’re making people unhealthy. They’re greatly increasing your risk of other, true respiratory diseases which do kill a lot of people per annum” (AAP Factcheck).

On February 20, 2021 the TODAY show twitter feed posted a news article that reported on a sign put up by Beckyjack’s Food Shack of Hernando County, Florida, that told customers “Face diapers are not required.” The photo quickly went viral.

On December 20, 2020 a modified version of Bobby McFerrin’s song Don’t Worry Be Happy was uploaded to YouTube with the song title Face Nappy.

Social Media Trends as of August 23, 2022

Facebook #facenappy: people are posting about this
Instagram #facenappy: 445 posts
TikTok #facenappy: 201,500 views

Google Trends: “face nappy” first appeared during the last week of January 5, 2020 as people started wearing masks in China where the pandemic started. The popularity of the term reached its peak during the week of May 30, 2021 just as the Delta variant was spreading like wildfire throughout the world.

face nappy search term

Sources:

AAP Factcheck. “Video airs false claims about face masks and respiratory diseases.” AAP.com. January 10, 2022. URL: https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/claim-that-face-masks-increase-disease-risk-is-on-the-nose/.

Doxan. “Face nappy.” Urban Dictionary. July 15, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Face%20nappy.

fencetape. “Face diaper.” Urban Dictionary. August 5, 2021. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Face%20nappy.

Khup Metalbullet channel. “Covid song || Face Nappy.” YouTube. December 20, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEI4aFfiBIc.

Sakariassen, Alex. “Dozens rally for parental rights, and against mask mandates.” Montana Free Press. October 1, 2021. URL: https://montanafreepress.org/2021/10/01/montana-parental-rights-masking-rally/.

TODAY show. “Florida restaurant goes viral for ‘face diapers not required’ sign.” Twitter. February 20, 2021. URL: https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1363253625791909890.

Categories
Pandemic

Infodemic

Although “Infodemic” was coined in 2003 the word has never been more prominent than during the pandemic. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “a word that blends ‘information’ and ‘epidemic,’ and refers to the rapid spread of information – both accurate and inaccurate – in the age of the internet and social media.”

When Covid-19 started to spread rapidly, people wanted answers about what to do if they became sick with the virus. Their were plenty of websites and opinions on social media about different treatment options – some dubious – and others informative. Too much information can make it hard to determine what’s true and what isn’t. The World Health Organization remarks that an infodemic can “cause confusion and risk-taking behaviours that can harm health. It also leads to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response.”  

Infodemic appeared as early as February 2020 when an article written for TechnologyReview.com described coronavirus as “the first true social-media infodemic…the greatest source of anxiety has been the tortuous process of watching the news unfold on social media” (Karen Hao Tanya Basu).

Social Media Trends as of August 13, 2022

Facebook #infodemic: 4,700 people are posting about this
Instagram #infodemic: 5,879 posts
TikTok #infodemic: 251,800 views
YouTube #infodemic: 260 videos and 153 channels

Google Trends: the term infodemic isn’t new but was first picked up during the week of February 2, 2020 and peaked in popularity during the week of March 15, 2020. News of the pandemic was distressing to many and people wanted answers. All kinds of theories were making the rounds on the internet leading some to describe this explosion of information as an infodemic.  

infodemic search term

Sources:

“Infodemic.” World Health Organization. URL: https://www.who.int/health-topics/infodemic#tab=tab_1.

“Infodemic.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. URL: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-were-watching-infodemic-meaning.

Karen Haoarchive and Tanya Basuarchive. “The coronavirus is the first true social-media ‘infodemic’.” Technology Review. February 12, 2020. URL: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/12/844851/the-coronavirus-is-the-first-true-social-media-infodemic/.

Categories
Pandemic Pandemic Movie

Alone Together

“We’re so conditioned to achieve things and to find the perfect mate and then the world shuts down.”


Alone Together is a romantic comedy directed by Katie Holmes who also plays the leading character June. The movie is set in March 2020 around the time the pandemic began. June is a food critic and lives in New York City which is just starting to shut down due to Covid-19. Looking to escape city life for a while, June plans a romantic getaway to upstate New York to meet her boyfriend, John, at an Air BnB. After a series of mishaps involving her journey there, June ends up taking Lyft to her accommodation only to find out it’s been double booked and a man called Charlie is staying there. As pandemic restrictions start to kick in, the couple are forced to live with each other for a time and John is unable to make the journey there due to taking care of his parents. The unlikely couple share aspects of their life with each other and soon grow close.

The New York Times gave a thumbs up to the movie and said its “strongest appeal is in the resonance between what the characters experience and what the world looks like now. But Holmes also finds grace notes as a director. She stages painterly angles for upstate interiors and keeps the mood mellow, allowing her characters to converse without pushing for laughs or sentimental theatrics. Her film is a quiet achievement: a movie that isn’t running from reality” (Bugbee).

The movie had a limited theatrical release in the United States on July 22, 2022 and was available for streaming on July 29, 2022. It’s available to rent on Amazon Prime Video (IMDB). Click below to watch the Alone Together trailer.

courtesy of YouTube

Social Media Trends as of August 7, 2022

Facebook #alonetogether: people are posting about this.

Sources:

“Alone Together.” IMDB. URL: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14584284/.

Bugbee Teo. “‘Alone Together’ Review: Finding Love in a Pandemic Retreat.” New York Times. July 21, 2022. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/movies/alone-together-review.html.

Movie Coverage channel. “ALONE TOGETHER Trailer (2022) Katie Holmes.” YouTube. June 12, 2022. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f7WgWU1FBU.

“Alone Together” movie poster. YouTube. URL: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jG9l5c3bowE/movieposter_en.jpg.

Categories
Pandemic Treatment Virus

Hydroxychloroquine

Hydroxychloroquine has been used for many decades to treat malaria and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Recently it has been used to treat those infected with Covid-19, though with mixed results. On March 28, 2020 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved hydroxychloroquine for emergency use to treat “adults and adolescents who weigh at least 110 pounds (50 kg) and who are hospitalized with COVID-19, but who are unable to participate in a clinical study” (MedlinePlus). Unfortunately, the FDA cancelled the Emergency Use Authorization on June 15, 2020 as clinical studies showed that use of this medication was not effective for the treatment of coronavirus and some patients suffered adverse side effects such as an irregular heartbeat.

On 19th May 2020 CNN published an article stating that POTUS #45 was taking hydroxychloroquine on a daily basis to help prevent the onset of Covid-19 possibly because “the President’s physician, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, alluded in a memo released Monday night to Trump’s personal valet testing positive two weeks ago for coronavirus. While Conley didn’t say directly that Trump started taking hydroxychloroquine in response to the valet testing positive, the timing mentioned by Trump and the positive test match up” (Nikki Carvajal and Kevin Liptak).

The video below is an interview with President Trump advocating for the use of hydroxychloroquine and informing viewers that he’s been taking the anti-malarial drug, describing the medication as a “game changer” in the fight against Covid-19 (ABC News).

Social Media Trends as of August 4, 2022

Facebook #hydroxychloroquine: 58,000 people are posting about this
TikTok #hydroxychloroquine: 24.7 million views
YouTube #hydroxychloroquine: 21,000 videos and 1,400 channels

Google Trends: hydroxychloroquine appeared during the week of March 15, 2020 and peaked during the last week of July 2020 as more people searched online to see if this antimalarial drug could cure Covid-19.

hydroxychloroquine search term

Sources:

ABC News channel. “Trump says he’s taking hydroxychloroquine.” YouTube. May 18, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I9Bb8Fbui0.

Hydroxychloroquine. MedlinePlus. URL: https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a601240.html.

Nikki Carvajal and Kevin Liptak. “Trump says he is taking hydroxychloroquine though health experts question its effectiveness.” CNN.com. May 19, 2020. URL: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/politics/donald-trump-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus/index.html.

Categories
Pandemic Treatment Virus

Remdesivir

Remdesivir is an antiviral medication developed by Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company. It has been used to treat those aged 12 and older who were hospitalized with Covid-19. Its initial use was to “fight the Ebola virus, that prevents an RNA-based virus from reproducing within an infected cell by blocking it from replicating its viral genome” (Dictionary.com)

Clinical trials using Remdesivir were conducted as early as April 2020. The New England Journal of Medicine published a report which identified the antiviral drug as a “promising therapeutic candidate for Covid-19 because of its ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. In addition, in nonhuman primate studies, Remdesivir initiated 12 hours after inoculation with MERS-CoV reduced lung virus levels and lung damage.”

In October 2020, Remdesivir was given approval for medical use in the United States to treat patients who were hospitalized “with mild-to-severe COVID‑19…[and] in January 2022, a study indicated that non-hospitalized people who were at high risk for COVID-19 progression had an 87% lower risk of hospitalization or death after a 3-day course of intravenous Remdesivir” (Wikipedia).

The pandemic has created new words in the English language some of which have been added to the major dictionaries. On June 16, 2021 an article was published on the News18.com website that stated “Remdesivir has been added to the [Oxford] dictionary’s list of words. Remdesivir became a popular name during the harrowing second wave that hit India in April. The anti-viral injection that sent people scouting for it, has now recorded itself as a dictionary word in June 2021 following its extensive demand” (Buzz Staff).

Social Media Trends as of August 3, 2022

Facebook #remdesivir: 46,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #remdesivir: 28,875 posts
YouTube #remdesivir: 5,200 videos and 2,200 channels

Google Trends: remdesivir appeared as a blip during the week of February 2, 2020 and reached its peak in during the week of April 26, 2020 which coincided with some clinical trials using Remdesivir in the United States.

search term remdesivir


Sources:

BuzzStaff. “‘Remdesivir’ Added to Oxford Dictionary after Surge in Use During India’s Second Covid-19 Wave.” News18.com. June 16, 2021. URL: https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/remdesivir-added-to-oxford-dictionary-after-surge-in-use-during-indias-second-covid-19-wave-3854156.html.

“Remdesivir.” Dictionary.com. URL: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/remdesivir.

“Remdesivir.” Wikipedia.com. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remdesivir.

“Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19.” The New England Journal of Medicine. May 22, 2020. URL: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2007764.

Categories
Pandemic Treatment Virus

Ivermectin / Horsepaste

“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
– U.S. Food and Drug Administration


Ivermectin is a word that’s been heard a lot since the early days of the pandemic when it was discovered that it might be effective in treating Covid-19. The drug is used to treat parasitic infections in livestock and specific infections in people.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) state that “Ivermectin is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved antiparasitic drug used to treat several neglected tropical diseases, including onchocerciasis, helminthiases, and scabies. For these indications, ivermectin has been widely used and is generally well-tolerated. Ivermectin is not approved by the FDA for the treatment of any viral infection…The Panel recommends against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19, except in clinical trials” (COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines).

The US Food and Drug Administration has the following statement on its website concerning use of the drug Ivermectin:

There seems to be a growing interest in a drug called ivermectin for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 in humans. Certain animal formulations of ivermectin such as pour-on, injectable, paste, and “drench,” are approved in the U.S. to treat or prevent parasites in animals. For humans, ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses to treat some parasitic worms, and there are topical (on the skin) formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea.

However, the FDA has received multiple reports of patients who have required medical attention, including hospitalization, after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for livestock (FDA).

When people decided to use Ivermectin to cure their Covid-19 infection, they soon discovered how difficult it was to get a hold of. Some decided to take matters into their own hands by buying Ivermectin Paste Dewormer which is used to treat parasitic infections in horses. This is where the term “horse paste” comes from. This product contains an appropriate amount of the drug suitable for horses that weigh a lot more than a human. Some people overdosed on horse paste and ended up in the emergency room. The situation got bad enough that the US Food and Drug Administration posted the following tweet:

https://twitter.com/us_fda/status/1429050070243192839?lang=en
courtesy of memegenerator


Social Media Trends as of July 30, 2022

Facebook #ivermectin: 36,000 people are posting about this
TikTok #ivermectin: 102.9 million views
YouTube #ivermectin: 1,600 videos and 950 channels

Google Trends: ivermectin first appeared during the week of April 5, 2020 when research came out around this time showing the drug was able to eliminate Covid cells in 48 hours. Since then, interest in the search term has gone up dramatically reaching its peak during the week of April 29, 2021 as more people started looking online for ways to cure their Covid-19 infection instead of getting vaccinated.

ivermectin search term


Facebook #horsepaste: people are posting about this
TikTok #horsepaste: 306,700 views

Google Trends: horsepaste registered interest during the final week of 2019 but didn’t really take off till March 2020. The popularity of the search term peaked during April 2020.

horsepaste search term

Sources:

BBC News channel. “Why some Americans treat Covid with an unproven horse dewormer – BBC News.” YouTube. September 15, 2021. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0HOYn6sO8Q.

FDA. “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” US Food and Drug Administration. URL: https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-should-not-use-ivermectin-treat-or-prevent-covid-19.

“Horsepaste” meme – Homer Simpson drooling. Meme Generator. URL: https://memegenerator.net/instance/85800949/homer-simpson-drooling-mmmmmm-horse-paste.

“Ivermectin.” COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines. National Institutes of Health. Last updated: April 29, 2022. URL: https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/therapies/antiviral-therapy/ivermectin/.

US FDA. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” Twitter. August 21, 2021. URL: https://twitter.com/us_fda/status/1429050070243192839?lang=en.