Xenophobia from Covid-19

As a result of the Covid-19 or more commonly known as Coronavirus outbreak, there has been an increase in xenophobic and anti-Asian remarks and actions. Across the entire world, there have been instances of hate speech and even assault on people of East Asian backgrounds or origins. Within the US, an Uber driver accepted a request by my grandmother; however, when he pulled up and noticed that she was a Chinese woman of an elderly age, he promptly canceled the ride and drove away. The Coronavirus has affected everyone by shifting many people's views of others or by providing an outlet to unleash anger that may or may not have been present previously against people of East Asian origins. While much of this hostility has been generated by the panic that surrounds this disease, it is not a “China virus” or something that should be associated with someone because of their background. This idea of connecting Asian people with the virus stems not simply because of the virus’s origins in China, but also within the media. It is harmful that for the majority of the media that are published about the virus in newspaper articles and even on the news are almost always have a picture of an Asian person wearing a mask. The article could be on the statistics of the virus in America, but there is still an Asian person on the picture accompanying the article. While this hostility generally stems from panic, it is important to see how this affects people’s mentalities and perspectives on the matter.