Don’t start preparing your doomsday kit just yet. The Center for Disease Control identifies people who haven’t traveled to Wuhan, China and people who don’t live with a COVID-19 infected person (and don’t use recommended precautions such as hand washing) as having “no risk factor” for contracting the coronavirus.
Delta’s Director of Marketing, Alex Breitler, reassured the campus in a statement last week that “Delta College is monitoring the situation.”
“No positive cases of the new coronavirus have been reported in San Joaquin Valley,” he said.
What does that mean? You likely don’t need to rush to the nearest CVS and clear the shelves of the face masks they have in stock.
The newest strain of the Coronavirus does still pose a problem, however.
Controversial memes and social media posts have displayed signs of xenophobia against Asian cultures. An outrageous Instagram post made by University of California, Berkeley even listed xenophobia as a “normal reaction” to this respiratory illness.
Videos are being shared over multiple platforms exemplifying racist actions toward people of any Asian descent.
Ingrid Chang, a Taiwanese Canadian, posted a video on WeChat of her sister confronting a man for saying: “You dropped your coronavirus.”
The hashtag #IAmNotAVirus is now trending on Twitter.
Witnessing an entire race of people have to defend every sneeze and cough in the midst of a regular flu season really puts into perspective where the priority of this situation lies for some people.
Are people really fearful of contracting COVID-19 despite being told by professional health officials that their risk is low, or has this become an excuse to project internalized racism?
There are more reported cases of xenophobia and racial discrimination in America than there are of COVID-19. COVID-19 is not a “Chinese-made” disease. Just like Ebola wasn’t created by Africans and H1N1 wasn’t born from Americans.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has given opportunity to people to condemn Chinese cultural delicacies.
Let us not forget what is a normality to some, is an outrage to others. Americans may not agree with the consumption of animals such as bats, but pigs are a “normal” part of many of our diets and are forbidden for consumption by Muslims. H1N1 was a pandemic that started in pigs, if you remember.
Every time an unfamiliar illness starts getting recognition, concerned people want someone to place blame on. As soon as the virus started making headlines, people who looked even vaguely Chinese began getting ostracized. We must not allow concern to turn into hysteria. An appropriate response to COVID-19 isn’t banning a race of people- or anyone who resembles a race of people- from public places.
If you really don’t want to get sick, wash your hands.
“While the immediate risk of this new virus to the American public is believed to be low at this time, everyone can do their part to help us respond to this emerging public health threat,” the CDC advises.
CDC also recommends getting a flu vaccine and taking everyday precautions to help stop the spread of germs in this already flu and respiratory disease season.
Maybe it’s time to ask ourselves: “How can I help?”
With the effects of this disease reaching far more than those infected, it’s becoming more important to focus on the real issue. Running away from people who look like they might be Chinese will not save you from contracting the Coronavirus, although it will make you look xenophobic.
People have been escaping illness by practicing good hygiene for decades. If you don’t feel protected enough by hand soap, look at the back of a Clorox wipe container. You might be surprised at what you discover on the list of diseases this disinfectant protects against.
