Abstract
While the COVID-19 virus has infected over 3 million people in the United States of America, Asian Americans face unique unfair treatment due to COVID-19. In America, many anti-Asian incidents have been reported, and the FBI warns of increased hate crimes to Asian Americans due to COVID-19. Americans and high-level politicians use inappropriate names, such as “Chinese Virus,” for the COVID-19 virus, which fuels racism and xenophobia. In this Experience piece, we discuss the harm of referring to the COVID-19 virus based on the geographic location where it was first identified.
Highlights
In a world free of racism, these terms would be harmless
As during other historical pandemics, there has been a significant exchange of wildly inaccurate health information, from ineffective DIY hand sanitizer to telemarketing calls boasting limited-time offers to a COVID-19 vaccine that does not yet exist
Referring to SARS-CoV-2 as a “foreign”, “Chinese” virus has reinforced the inaccurate narrative of blaming Asians and Asian Americans for the pandemic, even though China is considered to have taken effective steps to contain the epidemic within its borders.[10]
Summary
In a world free of racism, these terms would be harmless. But as the US struggles to contain a global pandemic that has left more than 125,000 Americans dead, people are concerned about their health and that of their family and friends, and quick to cast blame. As during other historical pandemics, there has been a significant exchange of wildly inaccurate health information, from ineffective DIY hand sanitizer to telemarketing calls boasting limited-time offers to a COVID-19 vaccine that does not yet exist.
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