Definition

A portmanteau of Covid and idiot to describe a person who behaves selfishly or recklessly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Derivation

‘Covidiot’ has been used to describe the people who crowded into seaside resorts and public parks, when most of the nation was avoiding public contact. It also denotes the drinkers who crammed into pubs for their last pint before lockdown. Those drunken groups who clinked glasses and put their arms around each other as they sang Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’, have been branded as irresponsible and foolish. Those who had ‘one last kiss’ before lockdown may now be suffering from more than a hangover.

Covidiocy is highly infectious: the condition is unpredictable with a short incubation period. In China, for example, Covidiocy made an appearance as soon as the peak infection rate subsided. Once the epidemic was under control, a new Covidiocy virus spread rapidly. Starting in Chinese state media, the daft theory that the US military intentionally released the disease in Hunan province, quickly infected media across the world. The Iranians followed, by blaming the Israelis and some of their allies said that it was God’s punishment on non-believers.

Experts are worried that Covidiocy will make an appearance in the UK once the lockdown ends and that various strains of the virus will evolve simultaneously. Covidiotic viral theories include the belief that this national emergency should form the basis on which society is organised in the future; that the government should pay our wages on a permanent basis, that industry should be run by the state and that we should close the borders and grow our own potatoes. One of the more dangerous strains is the belief that the Covid-19 is nature’s punishment for human indulgence. Super-spreaders of this theory may include Extinction Rebellion and George Monbiot.

Use

“Oy, get off, stop licking my face you covidiot.”