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Cuomo debuts his ‘semi-official’ post-COVID dictionary

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had a little fun at Sunday’s press conference and introduced the “semi-official post-COVID-19 dictionary.”

As he spoke to reporters about the state’s new measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, the governor used an acronym few people would likely understand without explanation.

“Then we come to winter, and hopefully the last chapter of COVID is this winter, knock formica” he said, tapping the drab white table in front of him, “and (the) last chapter of COVID this winter, we’ll introduce the VAP. Do you know what VAP means?”

When none of the few assembled reporters answered, Cuomo introduced the semi-official dictionary, which is meant to catalogue the new terms introduced into common conversation as a result of the pandemic. On the slideshow behind him, a blue book with the title “Semi-Official Post-COVID-19 Dictionary of New York State” appeared.

“There are new words and terms that have been used post-COVID that didn’t exist, or words that existed pre-COVID, but have a different meaning post-COVID,” the governor said.

VAP, the acronym he used to segue into his jests, stands for Vaccine Administration Program. The VAP is the state’s guiding document, outlining the steps officials will take to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine to the state’s nearly 20 million residents.

Some of the other words the governor sought to define with this project include: “blursday,” when every day feels the same and you lose a sense of if the day is a Monday or a Friday; and “COVID-15,” the weight gain experienced by those who stayed at home in quarantine these last few months.

This is more of a prefix than a distinct word, and the governor said he’s seen reference to “COVID-20” and “COVID-25.”

Cuomo also sought to differentiate between herd immunity — when an overwhelming majority of a population is resistant to a disease, preventing the spread of infection — and “heard immunity,” which is when a person assumes they are immune to the coronavirus because of misinformation or willful ignorance.

The governor said the dictionary project is ongoing, and he’s welcoming ideas for new entries.

“If you have any suggestions, we are taking them as we’re putting together the full dictionary,” he said.

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