New COVID-19 strains are reported to seemingly surge this winter and their new names may serve as an inspiration to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
As specified in a Futurism report, it all began with Dogecoin co-developer Milly Markus, who uploaded a screenshot of an article that featured the names of several new COVID-19 strains, which bear a passing similarity to both X Æ A-Xii and Exa Dark X Æ A-Xii, the controversial names of the first and second children, respectively, of Musk and Claire Grimes Boucher.
In the post on social media, Markus asked, referring to the coronavirus variants called XBB. Q11, and BA 2.75.2.
Definitely giving me kid naming ideas 🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2022
In a Twitter post, the company CEO and billionaire replied that the headline was certainly giving him "kid-naming ideas," from which he added a laugh-crying emoji for the favorable measure.
Starting as a 'Silly Twitter Gag'
Whereas it is nearly sure that the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is, as his use of emoji suggested, joking it would not be the first time that he brought a joke like this to life.
For example, Musk just sold out of his meme perfume, which is developed to smell like burnt hair, a venture that began as a silly Twitter gag he created earlier this year, a similar MSN report said.
Given that the company executive has at least nine kids in all, not to mention, is showing no signs to slow down anytime soon, Musk believes that reducing birth rates will result in a collapse of the global population. More so, it is not totally out of the question that the billionaire may resort to numbers when it comes to his kids.
How COVID-19 Variants Are Named
According to NewsBytes, in November last year, the World Health Organization stepped in and announced that there was a new system for naming the upcoming COVID-19 variants.
Every substantial variant is given a name derived from the Greek alphabet, simplifying public debates and lessening the stigma that surrounds them.
One of the main reasons to give variants names aside from the scientific ones is to make them easier to pronounce and remember, thereby simplifying public discussions about them.
Another issue is that, during the absence of an easier variant name, people are inclined to attach a virus strain to its country or region of origin.
This particular practice, nonetheless, is considered stigmatizing and discriminatory toward both the nation and its people.
Naming' Controversies
In a The Globe and Mail report, it was specified that SARS-CoV-2 has been fraught with naming controversies ever since COVID-19 initially took hold in late 2019 in China.
Terms that include "Wuhan virus" and "China virus" also became loaded descriptions, and even at present, health experts are avoiding the use of names such as the Vietnamese variant, the British variant, or the Indian variant for fear of stigmatizing nations and curbing scientific cooperations.
According to professor of evolution and infectious disease Oliver Pybus from the University of Oxford, they do not want anything that might dissuade people from sharing information with the global community.
Dr. Pybus was part of a group of scientists in Britain who took an innovative approach to the naming challenge.
They were able to recognize early in the pandemic that scientists would need a simple and adaptable way to identify mutations as the virus evolved.
Related information about how COVID-19 variants are named is shown on ThePrint's YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on COVID-19 in Science Times.
