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

[AllHeart1]

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.

even if it is solely the person who delivers their shopping.

They can leave it on the doorstep.

I am black British and got this with the West Africa ebola outbreak in 2014. My family (both black and white) visiting from Southern Africa got a range of comments. People spouted a lot of abuse I won't repeat and made a lot of ignorant assumptions and comments until one family member said "You do realise I'm from Southern Africa, virtually untouched by Ebola, you being in the UK are much closer to the Ebola outbreak than I am, if I took your approach of geographical distance to the crisis, I have more reason to be scared of you than you of me".

Racism? Dunno.
Stupidity and ignorance and paranoia? Definitely

If you ordered something from Wish last month, there is no way it's going to give you any coronavirus. If a postal worker at the Royal Mail sneezes on it before he puts it through your door, you'll maybe get his normal cold.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/infections/how-long-do-bacteria-and-viruses-live-outside-the-body/

I prescribe some books and a grip.

If you see a sneezing Chinese person in a UK supermarket, they've got a normal cold. Like everyone bloody else does in January.

It's like HIV/AIDS all over again.

Someone on Facebook posted on our town wall thing that they saw a chinese person at the hospital and there was basically a mass panic.

All I thought was hope it stops people going t hospital for absolutely no reason then.

It’s deffo the hiv thing again, imo

There was a rash of people abandoning their pet cats at animal sanctuaries a few years back, after the tabloids ran some stories about Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, the cat equivalent of HIV.

Humans can't catch it. Absolutely can't.

Anti bac spray, OP, has utterly zero effect on a virus. Sums it up, really, re lack of factual knowledge/kneejerk hysteria....

Unconscious bias. Racism is ignorance.

Elboa?? My tennis has never been the same since contracting this....

Breaking news BBC:

"Coronavirus is declared global emergency by World Health Organization as outbreak continues to spread outside China."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51318246

SimonJT If you'd read the op from the lady worried about her husband travelling, you'd have noticed that the husband is immunosupressed post transplant iirc, and so her concern is perfectly valid.

I live in the west country and had queries when I went upcountry about foot and mouth during the 2001 outbreak. Some people were confined to their villages and farms. One of the tutors for my PGCE missed days with us because she couldn't leave her area. There was concern there too, and it wasn't racist, just people worried.

The racism is about to increase considering they found the virus in India.

Nope. Not racist at all. I may avoid people because they have come from an area which is massively infected, ie China. But that’s got nothing to do with race. If the outbreak started in London I would probably avoid people who I know have been in London. What ill informed ignorance to suggest it’s racist to avoid someone because you’re worried about being infected. Jeez.

I don't think the response to the virus is hysterical at all. It's very important to do everything that can be done to limit its spread, and people are sensible to take precautions.

However, you're right that there are some racist undertones to the debate. My friend's son has been abused in school this week by kids who are refusing to play with him because he is Chinese and might "infect" them. He has never even fucking been to China.

I also had a discussion with some students the other day in a class where 80% are Chinese.The Chinese students were nearly all wearing masks which they said they were doing because of other people's perceptions and reactions.

I think it's more likely the students were wearing masks to protect themselves. I was at the National Gallery back in September and quite a few Chinese tourists were wearing face masks inside the gallery.

Britain's Chinese community wearing masks to celebrate Chinese New Year;
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7926047/Britains-Chinese-community-wear-facemasks-celebrate-New-Year-amid-coronavirus-scare.html

But not entering a Chinese takeaway in case someone from there has been in touch with a Chinese person from china is racist.

Implies they were actually happy to go in, if the virus didn’t exist surely? That’s not racism. Not going in because you think the food is made from dog meat is racist and not pork as stated on the menu is racist.

It’s not racist, it’s actually good that the unhygienic Chinese food habits are being brought to light so their government can be shamed into doing something. The Chinese government seems to do a lot to help their citizens blend into western culture. They’re taught western etiquette, change their names...this will be a massive embarrassment for them, and good job too.

No one gives a shit about the mass killing and concentration camps they have at the moment of the Uiger Muslims. No one gives a shit about their abysmal human rights violations. However, maybe the world will speak up against this “superpower” who is so great at everything now.

FWIW, I don’t think this corona virus is any more dangerous than SARS. It’s just a very bad flu, which most healthy people can fight off. It’s people with underlying conditions who are in danger. It’s not like Ebola which was actually terrifying, causing internal bleeding and what not.

I work in an environment where I serve a LOT of students from China. I am slightly concerned about wether anyone will consider the safety of my team as we do this. Does that make me racist? No. It's a legitimate concern that we may be exposed to someone carrying the virus.

It's not racist if you know someone has been in Wuhan

It is racist to assume that everyone who looks like that they are from the Far East (Japan, Korda, Thailand, Singapore...) are infectious and treat them like lepers by spraying them with anti-bac ot abuse them on buses. That sort of idiot is clearly unaware that not everyone in Wuhan is white and that the distance between Tokyo and Wuhan is like triple the distance between Lands End and John 'o Groats

@AllHeart1

Stretch just a tiny bit more & you’ll reach the moon!

FFS

Welcome to the new Britain. Back to good old 1970s style bigotry.

Also comes with a side order of record levels of people living in poverty, young people unemployed, homelessness, cuts in public services and under paid, over exploited workers.

If being a bigot means avoiding not coming into contact with someone-or someone in their circle who may have been to China when this was breaking, then so be it.

Breaking news-that is more likely to be a Chinese person than anyone else.

Would you like your child to sit next to someone at school whose parent had just come back from China when all this was breaking?

If the answer to that is, 'yes' then, in my opinion you are putting your rather silly right on views above the safety of the child.

For myself, I would rather not take the risk because I wouldn't risk their health, so I could claim to be a right on person.

Most Chinese parents will do the same if they know of someone who was in China when this broke and that doesn't make them bigots either!

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.

What a racist cunt!

I think there is a racial event OP, but tbf wasn’t the UK ostracised during the mad cow disease epidemic?

The way China treats animals is fucking vile so the whole country can disappear for all i care.

@username108 look at videos of UK abattoirs and then tell us about China 🙄

You are a racist and you can disappear for all I care.