In the context of "trying to do research on coronaviruses" your comment appears to be not only correct but an important distinction, rather than the pedantry it appears to be.
From Wikipedia: "...more lethal varieties [of coronaviruses] can cause SARS, MERS, and COVID-19."
And...
"Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2] is the strain of coronavirus..."
I learned something today!
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when I found out, though I admit now it's a little refreshing to have be so simply named.
If these were names for services and classes that came in a code review, how many would really approve?
They changed the name of this coronavirus to reflect the disease more accurately to COVID-19.[1]
The CDC has a list of other coronavirus’ that have existed.[2]
0: https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1227297754499764230?s=20
0.5: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html
1: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-...
2: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/types.html
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Edit: Since there seems to be a misunderstanding from everybody’s part on this as it’s referred to as both and often interchangeably in a mainstream setting, take a look at John Hopkins guide: https://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkins/view/Johns_Hopkins_ABX...
From link [2]: "SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19)"
The previous comment was just making the point that the (new) virus is called SARS-CoV-2 and the associated disease is called COVID-19.
COVID-19: disease caused by SARS-CoV-2
SARS-CoV-2: strain of SARS-CoV
SARS-CoV: severe accute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
Coronavirus: virus that causes respiratory diseases in mammals, such as SARS (SARS-CoV) MERS (MERS-CoV), and COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2)
Excuse the incivility, but no. SARS-CoV-2 is not a strain or type of SARS-CoV. The viruses share ancestors, but SARS-CoV-2 did not come directly from SARS-CoV. SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 are in the category of beta coronaviruses[0].
"The whole genome-based phylogenetic analysis presented that two Bat SARS-like CoVs (ZXC21 and ZC45) were the closest relatives of SARS-CoV-2."[1]
[0] https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/9/3/240/htm
[1] https://www.mdpi.com/pathogens/pathogens-09-00240/article_de...