Some are calling COVID the “Chinese Virus" and that’s wrong
“Cause it comes from China. It's not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that's why. I want to be accurate.” In a news conference, President Trump defended his word choice when reporters asked him why he referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus.”
Image courtesy of opb.org
To many people, it is second nature to refer to the disease sweeping the world as the “coronavirus.” For some, it's COVID-19. The third term is one that is highly debated and fought over by opposing parties, and that is the “Chinese Virus.”
First, as the author, I would like to acknowledge that I am writing this piece from the perspective of a white, American male at a liberal school. These terms for the virus do not personally affect me, but they very much affect others, which is why I want to argue against calling COVID-19 the “Chinese Virus.”
A very common argument for calling the virus the “Chinese Virus,” the “Wuhan Virus,” or the “China Virus” is a simple one: the virus originated in China.
Blame against the Chinese government also comes up during this debate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and National Review, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission downplayed the virus, stating on January 15 that they had not found evidence of clear human-to-human transmission, but that it could not be ruled out. This was a month after the first reported case, and a week later, the virus entered the U.S.
President Trump referenced the Chinese government saying that the virus had come from American soldiers. On March 12, the spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took to Twitter, and began questioning the US with the following: “When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”
This seems to be the main reason why people call it the “Chinese Virus.” American nationalists want to defend our country by denying these rumors and placing blame back on China.
Back to the main question, though. Is it fair to call it the “Chinese Virus”? Many point to examples from previous viruses, such as MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), Lyme disease, ebola, and most notably, the Spanish Flu. These were all prevalent and dangerous viruses and are related to regions in the world (Lyme is a coastal town in Connecticut, and the Ebola River is very close to the origin of the disease).
These are all true and fair examples, however, the WHO released a guide for naming new infectious diseases in 2015.
It stated disease names should be generic, specific, and if possible, short and easy to remember. More notably and prevalent, the guide lists that scientists should not name viruses according to geographic locations.
Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO’s Emergencies Program, urged people to “be careful” with the language they use. “Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin or how much money you have in the bank,” said Ryan.
While this issue does not directly affect me, it does affect others. Referring to this pandemic as the “Chinese Virus” can cause discrimination and encourage xenophobia against Asians and Asian-Americans
It creates a stigma against Chinese people. An article by the WHO highlighted the story of an 11th grade Chinese-American student who reportedly had classmates saying, “Everyone knows Chinese people are disgusting. They’ll eat any type of animal. They’re dirty.”
The stigma can also escalate to a violent point. Yuanyuan Zhu, in San Francisco, told the New York Times that a man had yelled at a bus to “run her over,” before running across the street and spitting on her.
In California, a 16-year-old boy was sent to the emergency room by bullies who said he had the coronavirus. In Texas, a man stabbed a family of three because he “thought they were Chinese, and infecting people with coronavirus.”
Under WHO’s guidance and for the safety of Asian-Americans, this is why people should refrain from referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus” since it encourages xenophobia and attacks against innocent people.