3 ms·

It's just convenient. What other naming scheme would you suggest?

• alrex021 6y ago
  Do you refer to SARS-CoV-2 as the Chinese virus? The actual name for the variant in question is 501.V2.
• jdavis703 6y ago
  Use the evolutionary lineage nomenclature. If people can memorize street addresses and telephone numbers they can learn to identify viruses by some other pattern. The other problem with naming a variant after a country or state is what happens when the locale identifies a subsequent variant?
• abacadaba 6y ago
  name after dinosaurs
• merpnderp 6y ago
  Why humor them? Their "Plain stupidity" comment without offering anything resembling reason shows they will not respond to reason. Don't encourage the Twitterification of Hacker News.
• blendergeek 6y ago
  The WHO generally recommends against naming diseases after countries or regions. Its why we say 'Covid-19' and not 'Wuhan Corona Virus'.