The Coronavirus is as Social and Political as it is Viral
My roommate has had a persistent cough for three months, and hasn’t been to China in years. As a Chinese-American on the subway, she apathetically explains, she receives glances of terror in response to her involuntary guttural croaks that I’ve become accustomed to living in an aptly-sized Manhattan apartment beside her.
At the unique intersection of public health and xenophobia, where do we draw the line between concern and racism?
The Coronavirus is alleged to have originated in a live meat market in Wuhan, China, where viruses that typically only have the capacity to infect a limited category of species suddenly are confronted with the opportunity to interact, dangerously, with viruses of varying infectious communicability. If you’ve ever seen the “Pandemic” episode of the Explained series on Netflix, you’d know that these markets, most commonly found in Asia, are a breeding ground for highly contagious viral diseases, because the rare proximity of many species of wild animals allows their respective viral inhabitants the opportunity to cooperate in an improbable coexistence that could never be found in a natural environment.
A small-scale Chinese meat market, however sanitary, was certainly no match for the media circus surrounding the explosion of the highly infectious Coronavirus onto the international stage. Media coverage quickly jumped to portray the virus as a pandemic following the World Health Organization’s declaration of the virus as an international health emergency. The virus’ rate of death at 3.4 percent, though undoubtedly higher than that of the influenza virus at 0.05 percent that annually plagues Americans and the international community, is alarmingly underreported in media representation that places an enormous amount of implicit blame on Chinese citizens for the spread of the virus.
Socially, the Coronavirus has transformed into a metaphorical instrument of measurement for the xenophobia of foreigners gazing into the flames of the infectious fire from afar. As reports of the virus outlay the rapid spread of the disease throughout China, economic retaliations on Chinese people, including in New York City, are taking hold, and fear of the virus, along with an avoidance of Chinese businesses, spreads among New Yorkers. Famed restaurants in Chinatown have reported a decrease in sales of up to 70 percent in recent weeks following coverage of the continued spread of the virus. The repercussions of xenophobic hysteria are more powerful, ultimately, than accusatory stares on the subway.
Politically, as it transcends the obviously dire physical manifestation of its consequences, the Coronavirus has become an ominous physical reminder of Chinese pervasion of many aspects of American identity. The virus has gathered international attention at an opportune moment as the threat of Chinese trade domination continues to loom over the minds of many American citizens and politicians, especially approaching this upcoming election season. Ironically, fear of the virus continues to spread throughout the U.S., as Chinese citizens in Wuhan and the province surrounding the city are on lockdown, legally forbidden to leave. As the virus comes to unveil the regression of the Chinese government into methods of dehumanizing population control, the progression of xenophobia and racism in discourse surrounding the virus has become accentuated in Western countries. The spread of the Coronavirus is undeniably political, as its spread continues to provoke governmental responses ranging from borderline human rights violations to the screening of plane passengers entering the continental United States having originated in China.
Ultimately, in my roommate’s experience, the virus has brought forth in many New Yorkers one of the uglier forms of the virus’ manifestations, in the form of outright disgust. My roommate laughs lightheartedly as she mentions to me, “My Chinese friend and I joke that if you ever want to see who’s racist on the subway, all we have to do is cough or sneeze.” The virus has socially indicted Chinese-Americans, like my roommate and business owners in Chinatown suffering economic reverberations of the virus, in an offense of racial association. Next time we’re on the F line, I’ll laugh with her.
