# "China virus" is clearly racist. Why isn't "UK variant"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [February 4, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-virus-is-clearly-racist-why-isnt-uk-variant/932222 "2021-02-04T22:47:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-virus-is-clearly-racist-why-isnt-uk-variant/932222/3 "2021-02-04T22:57:27Z")
It’s not contextual. The WHO decided 5 years ago to stop naming pandemics after locations because it stigmatizes said locations unfairly. They don’t have such a rule for variants. Previous thread: > [@Regional Virus names bad. So what do we call the new variants?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-virus-names-bad-so-what-do-we-call-the-new-variants/931715): > > You may remember early reports of the “China Virus”, but the World Health Organization did not recognize that – the decision to refrain from geographic titles for viruses was made long before. So what are the proper names for “the UK Variant” or the “South African Variant” that keep popping up in the news? Hopefully something that is concise. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/china-virus-is-clearly-racist-why-isnt-uk-variant/932222)._