SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19?
"It is very important to avoid conflating the virus and the disease. SARS CoV-2 is a respiratory virus. If you contract that virus, you will likely have mild symptoms. In rarer cases, SARS CoV-2 can lead to a more severe collection of symptoms, characterising a disease we call COVID-19. This is not a problem of semantics, it is a public mental health issue. By referring to the virus and the disease interchangeably, we end up with unnecessary panic. Headlines where experts describe COVID-19 as “the worst illness I’ve ever had” do not sit well alongside announcements that imply “60,000 people [are] catching Covid each day”. By failing to grasp the difference between the disease (severe illness) and the virus (usually mild or no symptoms) the public are inferring an exaggerated risk to their own health, resulting in increased anxiety and widespread fear of germs that could have long-term implications for mental health."