What’s a pandemic?

A ‘pandemic’ is when a disease occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a high proportion of the population. It comes from the Greek ‘pandemos’ which means ‘pertaining to all people’.

For the flu to be a pandemic, it has to (a) be a new type, (b) be easily passed from human to human and (c) be able to cause serious illness or death. Coronavirus ticks all those boxes. You don’t have to wait for the WHO, the language is clear. But it’s also just a word that describes what is occurring. There is no need to be afraid of the word.

By the way, a pandemic is not a ‘one time’ event. Periods of illness may come in 2 or 3 waves anywhere from 3 to 12 months apart. The total duration of a pandemic is likely to be 12 to 18 months.