Paradise for neologisms

The current coronavirus is, to look on the cheerful side, a paradise for neologisms, just as staying at home is a paradise for the introvert, as you can see from this poster advertising the many advantages of staying at home, using the slogan "It has never been so easy to save lives."

A coronavirus is a large family of viruses of various kinds, which can cause illness in mammals and birds. The novel (new) coronavirus, causes the infectious viral illness COVID-19. This is caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2 (named by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses) which emerged in 2019, possibly as the result of transmission from bats.

Here are some of my favourite COVID-19 neologisms, but there are many. In these articles, I have preferred the Wikipedia as a source of information, since it is quite rigorously quality-controlled. The same is unfortunately not true of other sources of information, such as the websites of national health departments or the general media.

Social distancing is one of the major terms. It refers to "a set of nonpharmaceutical infection control actions intended to stop or slow down the spread of a contagious disease. The objective of social distancing is to reduce the probability of contact between persons carrying an infection, and others who are not infected, so as to minimize disease transmission, morbidity and ultimately, mortality."

Keeping away from other people (my take on social distancing) is designed to reduce the basic reproduction number - the number of other people infected by each infected person. A better term that social distancing is physical distancing - you can still stay in touch online, just stay at home.

There are many nice lists of social distancing measures, and one may add others. Social distancing impacts the usual form of greeting such as the kiss (French) or handshake (Australian male) or hug (increasing numbers of Australians). Wikipedia shows some animated illustrations of alternative greetings, such as those using eyebrows, shrugs, nods and other gestures.

Of course, there are many many iterations of social distancing rules. In Australia, the Government recently (20 March) issued another iteration, which referred to the new 4 square metre per person rule. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) felt that it was best to quote the Prime Minister's exact words, also providing a video of his exact words. The ABC also comments "You should still be trying to keep 1.5 metres away from people at all times, and avoiding any handshakes or physical contact with people outside your family."

The report also notes that there is a wide variety of situations in which these social distancing rules do not apply, including health care settings, pharmacies, food shops, schools, workplaces, and public transport. Anywhere you might be likely to have fun seems to be included, however, depending on your own predelictions of course.

Social distancing is widely defined. For example, this example from the BBC has quite a different take on what it is. Dr Norman Swan, now a byword, has a partcular angle. There are many others. However, it seems pretty clear that Bondi beach last weekend was a huge social distancing fail.

Next: asymptomatic.

Election in Paris

Well, decision day approaches. On Sunday March 15 the people of Paris will vote in the first round of an election for Mayor of Paris - along with many other local government elections across the country. 

In France, although the voter cannot allocate preferences in the Australian style, the election is held in two rounds. In the second round, the following week, most candidates are eliminated, and the two leading candidates contest the election, as explained.

As a result, Anne Hidalgo, the current mayor may be re-elected, though in the second round. Hidalgo was born in southern Spain sixty years ago and is a dual French-Spanish citizen. She has been mayor since 2014, and is supported by the socialists (PS), communists (PCF), and various centrists and independents, with 23% support in the January opinion poll. There is a nice article  about her in The Guardian.

The main competition seems is from Les Républicains (LR), the centre-right opposition. Their candidate, Rachida Dati, was a minister under Sarkozy and she is the current mayor of the 7th arrondissement. France24 suggests that she is a strong challenger.

The governing party, La France En Marche (LFEM), the party of the President, Emmanuel Macron nominated Benjamin Griveaux (16%) as its candidate. When he resigned as candidate in late January over a sex video, he was replaced by Agnès Buzyn a doctor and formerly Minister of Health in the national government.

The flamboyant Cédric Villani, a dissident member of the President's party, is a distinguished mathematician and winner of the Fields Medal in 2010, but his vote has slipped in recent polls, as the field as narrowed. However, he is also greenish in colour, and was a strong supporter of Hidalgo in 2014 when she was elected.

Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV) has nominated David Belliard, who wants to free Paris from the car. Like that of Villani, Bellisrad's support has recently fallen, as many of his supporters appear to have transferred their allegiance to Hidalgo, who also has a strong environmental element in her program and wants to pedestrianise the city centre, among other things.

There are three other candidates. Aimer Paris (To Love Paris) has as candidate Serge Federbusch, who is supported by the extreme right Rassemblement National (RN). Libenons Paris is the party of Marcel Campion, who owns the Paris ferris wheel, and has had a long career in Paris carnival. Décidons Paris is a list headed by Danielle Simonnet, of the left.

Recent comment following the resignation of the Macron (LFEM) candidate has suggested that the main challenger to the long hegemony of the socialists (PS) - since the mayoralty of Jacques Chirac from 1977-1995 - is Rachida Dati of the PR. Dati is a high profile former minister under Nicolas Sarkozy and is waging a strong campaign. France24 summarises the situation close to the end of the campaign.

So for whom should we vote? My decision is clear, although unfortunately I am without the right to vote. Not only was David Belliard born on the same date as I was (although 31 years later), but he supports the reduction of cars in Paris - the pedestrian candidate par excellence. Bonne chance, David.