COVIDIOT

This word emerged thanks to some creative people at Urban Dictionary. There was strong support for it when it was put up on the dictionary database with the meanings (a)  Someone who ignores the warnings regarding public health or safety.  (b) A person who hoards goods, denying them from their neighbours.

The word has spread around the world possibly faster than COVID-19 itself. We are being advised what to do when we spot a COVIDIOT.  Egregious cases of COVIDIOCY are being reported daily.

 But it perhaps requires a third definition to cover normal idiocy which, in the circumstances of the pandemic, is magnified to the nth degree. The example here has been provided by the Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert, who somehow did not anticipate the rising demand on Centrelink services, then blamed the MyGov system crash on hackers who organised users to flood the  website, then agreed that this was not true and finished up with a light-hearted ‘My bad!’ as if that solved everything.