Airport staff escort elderly people wearing protective masks at an airport following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India, March 14, 2020.
A new Twitter trend earned the ire of people as netizens created a morbid nickname for COVID-19 calling it "Boomer Remover."
The term "Boomer" refers to the Baby Boomer generation whose ages are approximately between 56 to 74. "Boomer Remover" which stemmed from the high morbidity and mortality rate of COVID-19 among older people, particularly those who are over 60 appeared in more than 65,000 tweets last Friday.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, information and data point out of the danger the virus posts particularly to the elderly. In Italy, more than 1,000 people have already died from the virus and in an analysis done in the first 105 deaths within the country on March 4, the average age of those who died was at 81 years old.
Meanwhile, in Hubei Province, China where the virus first emerged, the country's Center for Disease Control found out that COVID-19 is more fatal for more than one percent of people who were infected at the age of 50-59 and the mortality rate shots up in higher age groups. Amongst people between 60-69 the mortality rate is at 4.6 percent and for victims aging 70-79 the mortality rate is nearly ten percent.
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In the United States, the age groups with the highest mortality rate after being infected with COVID-19 falls into the "Baby Boomers" generation. The Boomers are composed of a large demographic, the term was used since it was dubbed from the "boom" of births post-World War II.
How the "Boomer Remover" began
Referring to COVID-19 as "Boomer Remover" started back at the end of February and was mildly noticed due to the only handful of social media mentions. For example, early in March a comedian named Toby Muresianu jokingly urged the use of the nickname in place of "Wuhan Virus", the nickname for coronavirus which refers to the city where it first emerged.
However, by March 12, the use of the nickname "Boomer Remover" for COVID-19 became widespread and by Friday, March 14, it became one of the top trending topics in Twitter in the US.
Millennials and Gen Z: dying from depression, homelessness, nonliving wages, mass shootings, poor healthcare, etc
Boomers: Walk it off, snowflakes.
Millennials and Gen Z: *calls coronavirus Boomer Remover*
Boomers: NOW LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHITS HOW DARE YOU PEOPLE ARE DYING — miiya ミイヤ a real-life anime (@PearlteaRizzy) March 13, 2020
I have been informed by a relative who is a middle school teacher that students are now referring to coronavirus as the “boomer remover” — B. W. Carlin (@BaileyCarlin) March 12, 2020
The novel coronavirus has taken the lives of more than 6,500 people worldwide. The World Health Organization has already announced that it has become a pandemic. Despite the seriousness of the situations, there are still people, especially in social media who seem to be unaware of the gravity of the situation.
People were outraged with the use of the term calling it insensitive during a time of tragedy. With many people already dying, especially within the Baby Boomer age group, the morbid nickname is not helping the morale of those who are infected, thus, adding to the fear and panic that the virus already brought.
The sick jokes also appealed to some as part of the negative effects of social media to the millennials and Gen Z. Hence, the nickname "Boomer Remover" for a worldwide pandemic has become the target of social media strife.
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