What Does COVID Actually Stand for and Other Coronavirus Facts

There have been other remarkable strains of coronavirus before this one, namely SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, which stand for severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome, respectively. Obviously just sticking a 2 at the end of SARS-CoV is confusing to laypeople, and while scientists who study viruses may be very smart and good at a lot of stuff, branding is maybe not their strongest suit. Unofficially, the virus that causes COVID-19 is therefore called “the COVID-19 virus” to keep things simple.