The Social Damage of the Coronavirus: Isolation, Racism, and Fearmongering.

Published by Xiao on 02/02/202002/02/2020

When the news of the new coronavirus outbreak first came out, I brushed it off as one of the many overinflated news headlines that circles nowadays.

Then it slowly poured into social medial in the form of memes and comedic posts.

Now it everyone is talking about it and there is no escape from the topic.

This new virus has instilled fear in the hearts of many, spreading misinformation and brought out the worst in people.

The social side effect of the virus

The scariest effect of the virus sadly is not the virus itself, but the reaction of the people around the world.

Chinese people all over the world are facing isolation and discrimination.

Being of Chinese descent I’ve experienced it first hand and read similar stories from other Chinese people living abroad.

Living in Italy

The Chinese presence is really small and the situation is really getting out of hand.

Chinese kids are being pulled from school by their parents because they are too afraid of the other kids and their parents.

Exchange Chinese students don’t attend lectures for the same reason.

Local Chinese businesses are struggling because nobody wants to be served by a Chinese or buy anything that may come from China.

On the political side.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League party, tweeted: “And they said we were speculators and alarmists. Open borders, useless people in government. We pray to God that there are no disasters, but whoever has done wrong must pay.”

Also, Italian media have reported cases of Chinese tourists being verbally abused and spat at in Venice, and of a 13-year-old boy being forced out of a football match by insults.

On an individual and personal note

People that I’ve known for years and know full well that I haven’t been in China for almost a year, are asking me if I have the virus.

When I do groceries, people at the mall actively avoid my path like the plague and look at me with a stink eye and talk at my back.

So-called friends are disappearing.

Just yesterday, I received phone calls from both my parents urging me to stay home and avoid crowded places.

They live far away and they were not concerned about the virus, but about the reaction of the people around me.

And the sad thing is that for those seeking a new job like me, we know full well that we won’t be able to find one anytime soon.

We really feel trapped in an invisible prison made prejudice and xenophobia.

This is probably one of the saddest moments in my now 20 plus years here in Italy.

On a Global scale

The French regional newspaper Courrier Picard has published headlines such as “Yellow alert”.

In Hungary, where the government policy is very anti-immigrant, Vietnamese businesses are putting signs saying “we are not Chinese”.

In South Korea, more than half a million people have petitioned the president to stop Chinese people to enter the country.
Local restaurants and businesses are refusing and turning away Chinese people.

The same situation in Japan, Vietnam and the list of countries goes on and on from here.

So is the Coronavirus really this dangerous? is it worth the inhumanity?

Coronavirus is not the name of the virus, it’s the name type of virus.

As reported by The New York Times, among the Wuhan infected patients, only 20% became severely ill, with a mortality rate of around 2%.

By comparison here is the mortality rate of other recent outbreaks:

Ebola 70%
MERS 35%
SARS 10%

So I leave it to everyone’s own intelligence to decide.

The positive side

Scientists and companies from all over the world are already working together to find a vaccine for the virus.

Philanthropists such as Jack Ma and Bill Gates donated millions to the cause.

China has taken heroic measures to stop the further spreading of the virus, locking down the city of Wuhan and building a 25,000 square meters emergency hospital in only 8 days.

People all over the world are starting to share their support.

Many friends and acquaintances have called and texted me to check if I was alright.

And to those people, I say a heartfelt thank you.

Ignorance speaks loud, but truly believe that the majority of the people around us are nice and not xenophobic.

There’s no point in living in fear over something we cannot control.

I’ll carry on living my life as I always did, in spite of the current situation.

And to you reader, I suggest doing the same.
Just wash your hands often and be safe.