23:01
One day you're a peacefully watching cat videos and the next day the internet is screaming about a new virus outbreak and suddenly everybody is saying things like confirmed cases, quarantine, airborne transmission, containment measures and you're sitting there like So today we are learning real English vocabulary people use during outbreaks, pandemics and global health scares. So that when you watch international news, YouTube videos, documentaries or social media discussions in English, you actually understand what everybody is talking about. And yes, we are also going to talk about some vocabulary connected to recent discussions online about hantavirus. And of course, the collective trauma that was COVID-19. Because apparently humanity enjoys
sequels. This is not fear-mongering in any way and that's the phrase we're going to start with. Fear-mongering means spreading exaggerated fear or panic to influence people, attract attention or make something seem more dangerous than it may actually be. Basically turning everybody's anxiety level up to maximum for clicks, views or attention. This video, however, is strictly for educational purposes only. In this video we're learning important and unfortunately necessary nowadays English vocabulary. Okay, let's begin. I'm going to give you words or phrases and brief explanations with an example. And we'll start with the word outbreak.
An outbreak is when a disease suddenly starts appearing in a place or among a group of people. It usually means something unusual is happening and health officials start paying attention. Basically something bad started spreading and everybody immediately opens Google. And here's an example sentence. There has been an outbreak of hantavirus in the area. The next word is epidemic. An epidemic is bigger than an outbreak. It means a disease is spreading quickly across a country or a large region and affecting a lot of people.
An example sentence, the country is dealing with a flu epidemic. The next word is pandemic. A pandemic is when a disease spreads across multiple countries or even the entire world. It affects huge populations and changes everyday life on a global scale. And here is an example sentence, COVID-19 became a global pandemic. Ah, yes, the era of banana bread, hand sanitizer, and emotional damage. Confirmed cases. These are people who officially tested positive for a disease. So, when you hear confirmed cases are rising, it means doctors or a laboratories verified more infections.
Basically, the numbers everybody suddenly becomes obsessed with refreshing online. And here's an example sentence, the number of confirmed cases is rising. And you know what, guys? Just for the sake of practice, you actually can practice saying these example sentences out loud. Because it's easier to memorize vocabulary when you're actually using it in context. Okay, the next one is suspected cases. So, these are people doctors think might have the illness, but it has not been officially confirmed yet. So, this is basically the medical version of we are not saying yes, but we're also not saying no. And the example sentence, doctors are investigating several suspected cases.
The next word is transmission. Transmission simply means the way a disease spreads from one person to another. And here's the example sentence. Scientists are studying how the virus spreads and its transmission patterns. Okay now, this is a good one. This one has been used a lot lately. Airborne. If something is airborne, it can travel through the air, usually through tiny particles after someone coughs, sneezes, or even talks. And here's a good example sentence. Some viruses can become airborne. The next word is contagious. If a disease is contagious, it spreads easily between people. And the example sentence, the virus is highly contagious. The next one is infectious.
An infectious disease is an illness caused by bacteria, viruses, or other organisms that can enter the body and make you sick. Common examples of infectious diseases include respiratory infections like COVID-19, influenza, and tuberculosis. And here's a simple example sentence. It is an infectious disease. The next word is symptoms. Symptoms are the physical signs that show you might be sick, like fever, coughing, fatigue, or headaches. This is basically your body's way of sending dramatic warning notifications. And here's an example sentence. Common symptoms include fever and fatigue. The next word, also a good one, is asymptomatic. This means a person has the illness but does not show any
symptoms. It's like your body's acting mysterious. An example sentence would be some people remain asymptomatic, which is kind of dangerous. And it's dangerous because they can still transmit pathogens to others, making them significant drivers of infection spread. The next phrase is incubation period. This is the time between catching a disease and starting to feel sick. The incubation period can last several days, which is terrifying because you can feel perfectly fine while your body is secretly preparing betrayal. The next one is mutation. A mutation is when a virus changes slightly over time. The next word would be variant. A variant is a new version of a virus that developed
after mutations. And the next one that you might hear very often would be strain. A strain is a specific type or version of a virus or bacteria. And here's an example sentence. Doctors are monitoring a dangerous strain. The next word would be vaccine, that I'm sure everybody knows, but nonetheless, a vaccine helps train your immune system to recognize and fight a disease. And an example sentence would be researchers are developing a vaccine. Next one, booster shot. This is an extra vaccine dose given later to strengthen protection. Many people received booster shots. The next word would be immunity. Immunity is your body's ability to fight off a disease.
The body builds immunity over time. The next word would be antibodies, which can be pronounced in three different ways. Antibodies, antibodies, or antibodies. Yeah, I know, I know, we all love English pronunciation. Antibodies are proteins that your body creates to help fight infections. These are your body's tiny bodyguards. An example sentence would be tests showed high antibody levels. The next phrase would be public health that you will very often hear on the news. Public health focuses on protecting the health of large groups of people and communities. Public health officials issued a warning. This is
literally the exact sentence you might hear on the news. The next one very commonly used is health officials. Health officials are government or medical authorities. Health officials are urging caution. The next word is containment. Containment means trying to stop a disease from spreading further. An example, the government introduced containment measures. The next phrase that I personally have been hearing so much lately is contact tracing. Contact tracing means identifying people who were near an infected person so that they can be warned or tested. An example sentence would be the country expanded contact tracing efforts. Our next word would be quarantine, which means staying away from others after possible exposure
to illness. Yeah, we know this word already. An example sentence would be people who were exposed had to quarantine. The next word that gives me flashbacks is lockdown. A lockdown is when governments temporarily restrict movement, travel, business, or gathering to control the spread of disease. An example sentence would be the city entered lockdown. The next one is isolation. Isolation means separating people who are already sick from healthy people. And here is an example sentence, patients were placed in isolation. Social distancing. This means keeping physical space between yourself and other people to reduce the
spread of illness. And here's As example sentence, social distancing became common during COVID. Mask mandate. Mask mandate is an official rule requiring people to wear masks in certain places. The airport introduced a mask mandate. The next one is state of emergency, which is a serious situation officially declared by the government during a crisis. Here is an example sentence, officials declared a state of emergency. And this is the phrase that immediately raises everybody's blood pressure, right? The next word is hospitalization. This is when someone becomes sick enough to need treatment in a hospital. Now, this is another good one and you will
hear it a lot and this is ICU. And this is an abbreviation that means intensive care unit. This is the part of a hospital for critically ill patients who need constant medical care. And here is an example sentence. Some patients require treatment in the ICU. Well, the next one is respiratory illness. An illness affecting breathing or lungs. The virus can cause respiratory illness. Underlying conditions. Health conditions someone already had before getting sick. This is like your body's old problems teaming up with new problems. Here is an example sentence. People with underlying conditions are at higher risk. Recovery
rate. This is the percentage of people who recover from a disease. Doctors are hopeful about the recovery rate. The next one is fatality rate. The percentage of infected people who die from a disease. And this is one of the scariest phrases in news reports. Experts are monitoring the fatality rate. Okay, now recently a lot of people online started talking about hantavirus. So, let quickly learn some useful vocabulary connected to it. The first word would be rodent, and this word is all over the news now. A rodent is a small animal like a mouse or a rat. These animals are known for constantly chewing things and are often connected to the spread of certain diseases.
Hantavirus is often connected to rodents. Well, the next word would be exposure. Exposure means coming into contact with something harmful, dangerous, or infected. The person may have been exposed to contaminated areas. Now, if something is contaminated, it has become unsafe because harmful substances, bacteria, or viruses got into it. Here is an example sentence. Avoid contaminated spaces. This is a fancy scientific way of saying, "Don't touch that." And now, let's learn some internet reaction vocabulary because, honestly, this is also real-life English. The first phrase would be panic
buying. This means buying huge amounts of products because people are afraid supplies will run out. Here's an example sentence. People started panic buying toilet paper again. The internet is freaking out. This means people online are overreacting or panicking. The next one, and also a good one, is doom scrolling, which means spending hours reading negative or stressful news online. An example sentence would be, "I stayed up all night doom scrolling." And you know, I might also be guilty of this hobby. Okay, that's going to be it for this video. Thank you guys for watching, and I really hope that you learned something useful, that this video taught you some useful real English vocabulary
that, hopefully, we will not need to often in the future.
