Millennials shocking new term for coronavirus is ‘Boomer Remover’
MELBOURNE: Millennials have a new hashtag for coronavirus and it’s causing a lot of anger on social media.
The young generation has attached the hashtag “boomer remover” to coronavirus posts on Tik Tok, Instagram and Twitter during the coronavirus pandemic.
Coronavirus has killed more than 30,000 people worldwide so far.
The risk of severe illness and death rises with age.
In Australia, 17 people have died from COVID-19 since the first case was confirmed on January 25.
Baby Boomers were born in a post World War II baby boom between 1946 and 1964.
They are the generation statistically most at risk of death from coronavirus.
But young people are not immune.
Some of the “boomer remover” coronavirus posts have encouraged young people to take care of the elderly.
They include reminders to wash your hands and to deliver essential goods to grandparents as they isolate at home.
The hashtag currently has about 780,000 views on Tik Tok.
Not all the posts are kind.
On Twitter, dozens of people have changed their screen name to “Boomer Remover”.
Anger over climate change is a common theme, with many drawing the link that coronavirus is the earth’s revenge on the Baby Boomer generation.
Several claim Baby Boomers won’t listen to Millennials or experts when they talk about climate change.
But they expect Millennials to keep them safe from COVID-19.
The boomer remover hashtag has been met with an angry response from many social media users, particularly those who have lost loved ones to coronavirus.
That prompted many Millennials to write that boomer remover was “just a joke”.
“Your sense of humour is considerably in question. The mother of a friend of mine (she is 79) died last week. Screw your joke,” Stewart C Bryson replied on Twitter.
Others said while they appreciate black humour, “now is not the time”.
“Genuine question … would you still think it was funny though if it was actually your parents or grandparents who died in this way?”, Rebecca Courtney wrote on Twitter.
Millennials came in for particular criticism over their attitude to coronavirus from both the New South Wales and Victorian premiers on Monday.
It follows scenes of young people crowding Bondi, Manly and St Kilda Beaches, flouting the new rules on social distancing.
“This is not just about grandma, this is about all of us,” Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.
Australia’s coronavirus deaths have all been aged 68 and above.
But that’s not the case in other parts of the world.
An infant died after contracting coronavirus in Chicago and a 17-year-old boy was one of the many young victims in California.
“We’re not doing it for any other reason than that this is life-and-death,” Andrews said.
“If we allow our health system to be overrun, then people will die, and that is a price that is just not worth paying.”
Doctors in Italy have also said the skew towards more older people dying has occurred because older patients are less likely to be allocated an intensive care bed as the health system is swamped.
In an effort to stem the rise of coronavirus cases in Australia, indoor and outdoor gatherings have been restricted to two people unless it is a household.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said people in their 20s and 30s are the most likely to break social isolation rules.
“Can I give a message to people from the 20s and 30s – you are not immune to this,” Berejiklian said.
“You risk spreading it to people you love or people in the community who are vulnerable and will lose their lives because of this.”
“We will have to play our part and hopefully all of us will look back on this as a difficult time but also a time we came together, stuck together and did the right thing by each other.”
