Calling COVID-19 a ‘Chinese virus’ is wrong and dangerous – the pandemic is global

President Trump has repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus."  Mari Webel on The Conversation critically analyzes the President's characterization of COVIUD-19:

"The COVID-19 pandemic has spread to almost every country on Earth. And yet, several American officials refer to it as the `Wuhan virus' or even the `Chinese virus.'

U.S.-Chinese antagonism in this vein is not new. But, while this deliberate move to associate Wuhan, and more generally China, with the COVID pandemic serves a political purpose for the Trump administration, it also has significant implications for civil society and public health.

As a historian of public health and modern Africa, I study the politics of infectious diseases and responses to them. In addition to inflaming racism, emphasizing the foreign or external origins of a disease influences how people understand their own risk of disease and whether they change their behavior."

KJ