It’s a small piece of this whole experience, and it’s not of much consequence, but looking back, the way we talk about this pandemic has changed over time. Take the following bits of Google Trends data:
We call the virus “covid” now, not the “coronavirus:”
While quarantine has remained a topic of interest, “lockdown” has become the broader term for governmental action regarding social distancing, while shelter-in-place orders have faded:
Interest in a vaccine has ebbed and flowed, but it’s spiking right now:
And while people like me have been fastidiously focused on politics this year, the pandemic has held more weight in the public, at least in the realm of Google searches, where “covid” topped “election” in all but two weeks:
