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.