# Is it "Covid" capitalized, "COVID" all-caps, or "covid" lower-case? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [October 22, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958 "2021-10-22T00:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/1 "2021-10-22T00:47:27Z")
Because my spellchecker isn’t a fan of the first and third options, and it’s only allowing the second one, probably, because it allows for the possibility that all-caps words are abbreviated. So, when referring to the virus, what’s the proper form? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/2 "2021-10-22T00:50:54Z")
I mostly see it as “COVID” (or, more accurately, “COVID-19”); the AP and the _Washington Post_ both use that version, as does the CDC. However, some news sources, like the _New York Times_, have decided to use “Covid” and “Covid-19.” ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/3 "2021-10-22T01:03:11Z")
Not that this really helps, > The official names COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 were issued by the WHO on 11 February 2020. Tedros Adhanom explained: CO for _corona_, VI for _virus_, D for _disease_, and 19 for _2019_. To my reading, it should be CoViD19. > **[COVID-19](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19#Etymology)** > > Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. > The symptoms of COVID‑19 are variable but often include fever, cough, headache, fatigue, breathing difficulties, loss of smell, and loss of taste. Symptoms may begin one to fourteen days after exposure to the virus. At least a third of people who are infected... ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/4 "2021-10-22T01:07:08Z")
The CDC uses “COVID-19,” as does the FDA. I therefore continue to use all caps. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2021, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/5 "2021-10-22T01:26:32Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > To my reading, it should be CoViD19. Technically correct per standard formatting of acronyms (such as it is), but the CDC nomenclature as well as most medical literature is to refer to the syndrome as “COVID-19”, and the virus that causes it as “SARS-CoV-2”. In colloquial use (e.g. quoting conversation) “covid” or “Covid” is fine but I would expect factual news articles to use the correct nomenclature. Then again, I would expect that [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) could publish in complete sentences and correctly formulated paragraphs, and yet they cannot even manage that minimum of copyediting standard. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/6 "2021-10-22T12:59:00Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > However, some news sources, like the _New York Times_ , have decided to use “Covid” and “Covid-19.” A number of British news sources have changed their style of writing some acronyms to that format. Notably, they write NASA as Nasa, as well as COVID as Covid. Although not, for example, CIA as Cia. Not sure why they did this and I’m not in favor of it. Doing some quick googling, the NYT does do Covid, but not Nasa. The Bbc does both. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/7 "2021-10-22T14:05:36Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Doing some quick googling, the NYT does do Covid, but not Nasa. The Times’ style tends to use periods in acronyms – for example, while most news sources use the term “CDC,” the Times uses “C.D.C.” However, the Times does use “NASA.” ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/8 "2021-10-22T14:14:57Z")
Maybe they use caps and small letters for acronym names that you pronounce, and all caps for those you don’t: Covid, Nasa, CIA, FBI. Those are capitalized because they are the name for something, and scuba and radar aren’t? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/9 "2021-10-22T14:27:22Z")
That does seem like a reasonable rule. I was going to come in and jokingly suggest CoViD as the capitalization, but since the O and I _aren’t_ the first letters of words in the acronym I’m going to only _mostly jokingly_ suggest it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/10 "2021-10-22T16:10:26Z")
At this point I’ve lazily gone to covid, but in a formal communication I’d still all-caps it + the “-19”. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/11 "2021-10-22T16:13:17Z")
I’ve been trying to switch to covid because I don’t write “Chicken Pox” with capital letters. It is a type of acronym, but I would only use all caps if I were writing “COVID-19.” ---
**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:** [October 23, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/12 "2021-10-23T02:41:13Z")
It’s a new word for a new disease. My guess is that on a couple of years there will be a standard, but right now… I’m not worrying about it now, so long as the communication is clear. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-covid-capitalized-covid-all-caps-or-covid-lower-case/952958/13 "2021-10-23T14:07:38Z")
The official name, as established by the WHO and similar organizations, is COVID-19. But personally, I’m of the opinion that it’s become an ordinary common noun, and so I now spell it “covid” (unless at the beginning of a sentence, of course), just like I would for any other common noun. I probably would still use “COVID-19” in a context where it was important to distinguish it from other coronoviral diseases such as SARS or MERS (both of which are not common nouns by virtue of, well, not being common).