Nobody wants to contract the COVID-19 Coronavirus, but fear is no excuse for xenophobia.
Since the COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China, people who look Asian are treated in society with a new sense of racism.
CBS News reported on Feb. 14 a 16-year-old boy in San Fernando Valley was attacked by bullies who accused him of having the coronavirus because he’s Asian American.
People never have the right to be racist. A disease does not give anyone the right to be racist just because the virus originated in China. The idea that any Chinese person carries or could carry the Coronavirus is nonsense. Viruses have no race or ethnicity and can start anywhere in the world.
The virus has more to do with traveling than race. The Center for Disease Control said to avoid contact with travelers from China, Italy and South Korea.
“Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases,” the World Health Organization’s website said. “Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.”
COVID-19 has affected more than 80,000 people in at least 33 countries.
Erika Ishii, an Asian American actress and producer tweeted a picture of herself on Feb. 26 with a facemask on a plane.
“For SOME REASON everyone on my flight is TERRIFIED of me,” Ishii wrote on Twitter. “Full flight, I’m at the front, nobody wants to sit next to me. Why, I wonder?”
Many Asian Americans have experienced xenophobia and fear-mongering due to the fear over Covid-19.
Hashtags were created on Twitter to discourage xenophobia — #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus, which is French for “I am not a virus.” Another hashtag, #CoughingWhileAsian, allows Asians to share their xenophobia experiences.
People of many Asian ethnicities have experienced xenophobia associated with the virus as a large part of the hatred the Chinese face in response to COVID-19 .
An article on abc.net.au in Australia said on Feb. 26, Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne alerted the Department of Health after one of their staff reported racial slurs directed at her because of the virus.
The hospital’s director of emergency medicine, Stuart Lewena, said in the article that the staff member had a family who refused to let her provide care for their child because of her race and they expressed concern that she was a risk of spreading coronavirus.
The hospital also reported that patients have been avoiding people who look Asian in waiting rooms.
Xenophobic behavior against people who look East Asian is disgusting and leads to violent acts against Asians. Covid-19 is not at all about being Chinese; the disease is tied to where someone travels and who they’ve come into contact with.
The Center for Disease Control said in a post on its website to discourage xenophobia related to the Coronavirus.
“Diseases can make anyone sick regardless of their race or ethnicity,” the Center for Disease Control said. “People of Asian descent, including Chinese Americans are not more likely to get COVID-19 than any other American.”
The Center for Disease Control also said to inform people that the real threat does not come from those of Asian descent.
“Help stop fear by letting people know that being of Asian descent does not increase the chance of getting or spreading COVID-19,” the Center for Disease Control said.
Eradicate fear by eliminating ignorance. People of Asian descent do not increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19.
Parts of the media have also spread racist and xenophobic ideas in virus coverage.
Amanda Darrach of the Columbia Journalism Review said in an article how the media covers the outbreak.
“Too many articles have missed the cultural significance and socioeconomic factors that underlie China’s reckoning with the coronavirus — and instead suggested that America is more sanitary, more evolved, more pure,” Darrach said.
Covid-19 is highly contagious, but so is the flu. The fact that the disease originated in China brings forth xenophobia and fear-mongering not only against the Chinese, but also anyone who looks East Asian. Racism is not the answer to pandemics. The answer lies in education, prevention and awareness.
