To think that coronavirus has exposed a nasty undertone of racism?

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Now I’ll admit that I can’t be doing with all the hysteria surrounding this. People wanting colleagues to stay off work because they’ve been to china/wanting to keep their kids off school because one of them has been to china/wanting Brits to be kept in china lest they bring the virus home.

While there have been some deaths, in comparison to the numbers of those diagnosed these are small and have occurred in people who mostly had already underlying health conditions.

But I can’t help thinking what these attitudes are actually saying about people’s attitudes towards the Chinese.

Quite apart from the above, I’ve seen people express concern that a package sent from China two weeks ago might infect them, followed by advice to quarantine it for two weeks and then spray with anti-bac before opening.

Wondering i f it’s safe to go to the local Chinese in case someone working there has been in contact with someone from China.

And someone I know personally who is of Chinese origin but grew up in this country being told that they should keep out of circulation because they’re Chinese and therefore could be infectious.

A lot of this is of course hysterical paranoia, but it seems to be spreading, and it gives out a very nasty message imho.

It's not racist to avoid an area which has an outbreak of anything dangerous and infectious.

It is racist to assume that anyone from that culture will be carrying the disease, or to abuse them, or to make derogatory comments about their cultures.

There will always be people who will seize the opportunity to let their prejudices have an airing

A poster created a thread asking if her husband should attend an event as there will be chinese people there. Either racist or incredibly dim.

Eeh??im lost for words

@Stressedout10, have you seriously not heard of the Yulin dog festival? It isn't the only time that they capture, kill and eat the dogs in the same manner.

@Stressedout10, when you Google it go onto the images.

It’s not racism it’s just fear of being around people who may have been in contact with the virus 😐, I can’t see it as racism at all, just people being sensible. The more people move around (flights leave China) the more likely it will spread to other countries so it makes sense for people to stay put? If your a healthy person then there should be nothing to worry about, it’s a very similar virus to the flu which can be fatal to elderly and those with underlying conditions. Most of the people that have died from the virus were unwell or elderly.

I know it must be stressful for those trying to leave China with their families and it must be horrible to be told you have to leave your husband/wife/child behind if they don’t have a British passport but if they allowed anyone out who had a link to the uk then there would be a much higher risk of bringing the virus with them.

@Ponoka7
Yes I have hurd about the festival however the dogs are not cooked alive !
If you have reputable information to the contrary please quote your source

Ahh that's okay then! @Ponoka7

Some of the examples that people have come across and mentioned here ARE racist. Spraying a person with disinfectant because they look Chinese? Suggesting a Chinese person doesn’t come to work because they’ll scare customers? It’s making assumptions about people based purely on their race with no regard to genuine risk factors.

I agree, Francina670

Those examples are clearly racist, FFS.

@SimonJT I neither think that is racist nor incredibly dumb.

I imagine that poster didn't know if all the Chinese people at the conference-or their families- had been in China when the outbreak fell.

As she didn't know that important piece of information, then how could she be sure if her husband wasn't in contact with someone who was incubating the disease.

I think that is why the government are making quarantine plans for all British people who are being flown back here-regardless of their colour.

I wouldn't fear the charge of racism in her situation because it isn't racist.

If Leeds had a massive outbreak of some serious disease I wouldn't want to sit next to John Bull himself, it there was a chance he had been in Leeds when it broke out.

A poster created a thread asking if her husband should attend an event as there will be chinese people there. Either racist or incredibly dim.

If it is the thread I am thinking about, she was specifically concerned about people who had actually flown in from China for the event. It wasn't because there would be "Chinese people there"

Wondering if it’s safe to go to the local Chinese in case someone working there has been in contact with someone from China

I mean, Chinese people are more likely to have been in China recently than the average non-Chinese person.

And someone I know personally who is of Chinese origin but grew up in this country being told that they should keep out of circulation because they’re Chinese and therefore could be infectious

That's a bit racist and really stupid, but I can't say I've heard anyone saying anything that dumb so no, I wouldn't say a racist undertone has been exposed. Not to me.

And someone I know personally who is of Chinese origin but grew up in this country being told that they should keep out of circulation because they’re Chinese and therefore could be infectious

The person was probably worried they may have been in contact with family/friends from China.

I don't think you can shoehorn racism into this, OP.

Look around Mumsnet, people are overly anxious about all sorts of health issues. Even the number of people who think colleagues shouldn't go to work with a cold is quite staggering.

If the coronavirus started in Yorkshire for example, people would be just as anxious but you wouldn't be able to get the racism angle in.

@Stressedout10, did you go into images? I'd post them, dogs still alive with legs missing. Dogs in other situations which if I describe them, I'll get the post deleted anyway. I'd put the pictures up for you but I don't want a ban.

I voted YABU based on the first paragraph of op not the last few paragraphs.

Expecting people who have traveled to China (where all regions are now affected) to either self quarantine, be formally quarantined or report themselves and their movements to relevant authorise is they haven't done this, is not unreasonable.

Being racists to anyone who is of Chinese heritage its unexceptable, but you're not going to easily change people who have this type of mindset.

People are worried about this for various reasons. I'm a paramedic who suffers from asthma and had a 2 year old child. If it arrives in the UK, I will be on the frontline for this disease.

As someone else mentioned above, the effort from the individual Chinese HCPs is awesome. I've only ever worn a full hazmat suit in training, for long enough to put it on and take it off (which takes a while as you have to re sterilise your hands at ever stage). These suits are hot, claustrophobic and difficult to work in, and that's when their isn't nasty consequences if you get it wrong. The Chinese medical staff deserve medals!

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1385053/Shocking-footage-dog-boiled-alive-steamer.html&ved=2ahUKEwi60syL5KvnAhXjShUIHQz8AR0QtwIwAXoECAoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3CfwH6Eq0lze0vCd1VXaBX" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1385053/Shocking-footage-dog-boiled-alive-steamer.html&ved=2ahUKEwi60syL5KvnAhXjShUIHQz8AR0QtwIwAXoECAoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3CfwH6Eq0lze0vCd1VXaBX

One link. Just Google there's plenty to choose from. Google traditional medicine practices, especially around bears etc.

@ponoka7 yes the condition of the dogs is poor and I am still waiting on proof of dogs being skinned alive and boiled to death state your source

A lot of people are thick.

For all the people saying, it's only a tiny percentage that die and they are mostly elderly, it's not that simple.

It isn't a case of either dying or recovering fully. There will be many people left with lifelong respiratory problems, reducing their quality of life and ultimately their life expectancy. There are many Hong Kong and Chinese HCPs who have been left with permanent lung damage from SARS (this was mentioned in articles when the Hong Kong doctors where threatening Strike action earlier in the week).

Agreed OP. It's subtle though.

My family used to live in China back in the day, I frequently pass through in transit these days, but we are not ethnically Chinese and look very white. I haven’t had anyone so much as look at me sideways while I’ve been coughing my lungs out like a Victorian street urchin (very bad flu at the moment). Somehow I doubt my experience would be the same if I looked Asian.

Can I just add, that as a "person of colour", I am scratching my head wondering why there are SO many "is this racist" threads on Mumsnet?

It's like the woke army are just desperate to find some new mildly disturbing undercurrent permeating our society, and won't rest until we've analysed it and ensured everyone on Mumsnet has virtue-signalled in some sort of virtual roll-call.

Ugh.

On the one hand, I have a friend who got on a train, sat down and a group of white people got up from their seats and moved away from him. He has Korean heritage and has never visited China.

On the other, I know a Chinese person who, instead of attending a meal at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the Lunar new year, went for an Italian instead because of fears over the virus.

People seem to be more comfortable being racist towards Asian people. Asia is huge, China is huge and thinking that all Asians shop and eat in the same way is the same as saying that all black people eat fried chicken.

People have forgotten: "Mad Cow Disease" where in the UK we feed cows food made from dead diseased sheep & the small (!!) issue of the foot & mouth disease & the numerous outbreaks of food poisoning we have had here caused by bad hygiene etc in factories & eating establishments et al & the listeria & egg scandal & in the US the small issue of water contamination & I am sure with a little more research...