# COVID pneumonia **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 2, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376 "2022-03-02T23:29:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/1 "2022-03-02T23:29:39Z")
I read [sorryantivaxxer.com](http://sorryantivaxxer.com), and I’ve noticed that many of those profiled (or their friends/relatives) say the person has/had ‘COVID pneumonia’. OK, I get that the patient has/had pneumonia that was brought on by COVID. But what’s with them saying ‘COVID pneumonia’? Do they think, ‘I/he/she don’t/doesn’t have COVID. It’s COVID pneumonia! Completely different! COVID isn’t real!’? Why the distinction? Aside: Every time I see the phrase, I want to sing it to the tune of Waltzing Matilda. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/2 "2022-03-03T00:53:36Z")
I’m not sure just what you’re asking. The medical profession often describes pneumonias by what’s causing them: Staph pneumonia, strep pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, pneumococcal pneumonia, parainfluenza pneumonia, chemical pneumonia, etc. COVID pneumonia is just another shorthand way of describing a pneumonia caused by or contributed to by the covid virus. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/3 "2022-03-03T00:55:28Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > The medical profession often describes pneumonias by what’s causing them: Staph pneumonia, strep pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, pneumococcal pneumonia, parainfluenza pneumonia, chemical pneumonia, etc. Okay then, how do you explaining Walking Pneumonia? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/4 "2022-03-03T00:59:20Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Okay then, how do you explaining Walking Pneumonia? Folk etymology after mishearing the actual diagnosis [Walken Pneumonia](https://i.postimg.cc/hj6qZz8w/christopher-walken-pneumonia.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/5 "2022-03-03T01:04:54Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I’m not sure just what you’re asking. The medical profession often describes pneumonias by what’s causing them: Staph pneumonia, strep pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, pneumococcal pneumonia, parainfluenza pneumonia, chemical pneumonia, etc. I think most people would say they have COVID, or say they have pneumonia. It seems to me to be a phenomenon amongst anti-vaxxers to call the illness ‘COVID pneumonia’. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/6 "2022-03-03T02:44:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I think most people would say they have COVID, or say they have pneumonia. It seems to me to be a phenomenon amongst anti-vaxxers to call the illness ‘COVID pneumonia’. But covid manifests many ways. One can have covid myocarditis, covid upper respiratory infection, covid pneumonia, covid gastroenteritis, covid hypercoaguability state, etc. I’ve told more than a few of my patients “you’ve got covid and it’s causing a pneumonia”. Pretty logical and accurate for them to tell others that they have covid pneumonia. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/7 "2022-03-03T03:09:24Z")
But it’s only the anti-vaxxers who say ‘COVID pneumonia’ in my observation. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/8 "2022-03-03T03:11:35Z")
Ok, but that’s not been my experience. I’ve heard it widely used by health professionals and patients and others. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/9 "2022-03-03T03:31:18Z")
Now, THAT would be terrifying to see on an x-ray! ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/10 "2022-03-03T06:41:24Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I’m not sure just what you’re asking. The medical profession often describes pneumonias by what’s causing them: Staph pneumonia, strep pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, pneumococcal pneumonia, parainfluenza pneumonia, chemical pneumonia, etc. But I’m not aware of that practice being used by non-medical people, until now. For instance, I have never heard of a cause of death being reported by a non-medical person as “flu pneumonia” – rather, it would just be reported as **either** (most likely) “flu” or (possibly) “pneumonia.” ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/11 "2022-03-03T17:16:30Z")
On my hospital discharge papers - it is stated as “Pneumonia due to covid-19 virus” along with “pneumonia - unspecified organism”. SO - the cause of the pneumonia itself was due to having had Covid - but the specifics of the Pneumonia are not listed. the Anti-vaxers, etc all want to downplay the covid-19 part (for some stupid reason) - and anything they can do to distract is their goal. At the end of the day - I have no doubt about the cause of my issues. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/12 "2022-03-03T17:29:47Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > But I’m not aware of that practice being used by non-medical people, until now. For instance, I have never heard of a cause of death being reported by a non-medical person as “flu pneumonia” – rather, it would just be reported as **either** (most likely) “flu” or (possibly) “pneumonia.” > **[Influenza pneumonia: a descriptive study - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11399696/)** > > The recognized number of hospital admissions for influenza increased fourfold to sevenfold over previous years, most likely due to the implementation of rapid diagnostic tests for influenza. Patients with signs and symptoms of influenza and shortness... Pneumonia is a condition describing the inflammation of the alveoli (tissues in the lung responsible for exchange of atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolved in blood). It is not a disease but a condition of any number of diseases and trauma that affects the lower respiratory system. This is similar to how AIDS is the expressed condition of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), although in the case of AIDS it is uniquely identified with the HIV family of viruses whereas pneumonia can be caused by a large array of different pathogens and injuries. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/13 "2022-03-04T03:24:39Z")
I fail to see how your response is in any way relevant to what I posted. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/14 "2022-03-04T12:50:28Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > But I’m not aware of that practice being used by non-medical people, until now I’ve been aware of that practice among non-medical people for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/15 "2022-03-04T12:57:00Z")
I’ll back up @Qadgop_the_Mercotan . My wife works in Long-Term care and her notes have included the phrase “COVID Pneumonia” a soul-crushing number of times over the last two years. Often shortly followed by a death certificate containing the same phrase. Maybe it’s not super common among non-medical people that aren’t routinely around old and sick people. And there may be something to the idea that “COVID Pneumonia” as used by anti-vaxxers is a short hand for “not real COVID”, but that is just them being ignorant. But “COVID Pneumonia” is a perfectly cromulent phrase. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/16 "2022-03-04T13:06:39Z")
actually a year ago around this time, I had “pneumonia-related and due to covid-19” ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/17 "2022-03-04T17:33:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I think most people would say they have COVID, or say they have pneumonia. It seems to me to be a phenomenon amongst anti-vaxxers to call the illness ‘COVID pneumonia’. Lurking in r/HermanCainAward, you can certainly see efforts being made to minimize the “COVID-ness” of a death, either to pre-empt "I told you so"s, or to not invite other anti-vaxxer relatives to argue. “COVID pneumonia” seems like the most innocuous of these. I imagine that it is the choice of obituary writers where most relatives know the deceased died of COVID and wouldn’t want to be pretending they didn’t, but also a few relatives are anti-vaxxers/COVID-is-a-hoaxers who want an out that a blunt “died of COVID” doesn’t provide. It helps that it is a legitimate and accurate medical term. Other variations I’ve seen that are a little more distancing are “COVID and pneumonia” (like they would have totally beaten just COVID, but they just happened to coincidentally catch pneumonia at the same time) or “Complications of COVID” (like COVID is normally very mild, but in this case it was weird) or “COVID and \”. And of course there are the “I’m going to sue the hospital because they totally didn’t die of COVID an the doctors must have killed them” but that passes beyond mere keeping-the-peace wordsmithing. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/18 "2022-03-04T23:18:05Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > (like they would have totally beaten just COVID, but they just happened to coincidentally catch pneumonia at the same time) You don’t ‘catch’ pneumonia - and since the overwhelming majority of folks do ‘totally beat covid’ at this point with few issues, it does catch some by surprise - me being one of those that progressed to pneumonia from Covid. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/19 "2022-03-07T03:11:07Z")
I don’t understand how “covid pneumonia” minimizes that it’s covid. Fwiw, i am not a medical professional, nor am I a covid denier, and it’s a phrase I’ve used to describe what killed my mother, and the symptoms an on-line friend had. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376/20 "2022-03-07T04:06:39Z")
Because they are de-emphasizing Covid itself and focusing on the pneumonia - which can come for lots of reasons. Its part of the ‘Covid is no big deal and its an excuse by drs to charge more’ routine. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-pneumonia/960376.md?page=2)