Open AccessFighting COVID-19: What’s in a Name?
Author(s) -
Thomas Kun Pak,
Aline Sandouk,
Phuong Mai Le
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of medical students
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2076-6327
DOI - 10.5195/ijms.2020.645
Subject(s) - xenophobia , covid-19 , harm , racism , criminology , pandemic , face (sociological concept) , asian americans , political science , history , sociology , virology , medicine , law , social science , ethnic group , pathology , disease , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty)
While the COVID-19 virus has infected over 3 million people in the United States of America, Asian Americans face unique unfair treatment due to COVID-19. In America, many anti-Asian incidents have been reported, and the FBI warns of increased hate crimes to Asian Americans due to COVID-19. Americans and high-level politicians use inappropriate names, such as “Chinese Virus,” for the COVID-19 virus, which fuels racism and xenophobia. In this Experience piece, we discuss the harm of referring to the COVID-19 virus based on the geographic location where it was first identified.