Julia Shung
Section: A04
Week 1 Blog
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has instilled fear for millions of Americans with constant reminders through newspapers, social media, radios and TV programs. I remember hearing about the first outbreak of coronavirus in the United States. During this chaotic time, everything felt uncertain to me. It was the end of Winter Quarter and it was difficult to focus on school and work because the report of the virus was on a day to day basis. At the time I did not realize the severity of the virus and the rapid increase of deaths that it had on people.
This virus has taken a toll on our mental and emotional health. “The recent reports of increased xenophobia and racism has shown deeper and psychological shifts and our moral judgements have become harsher within our social groups” (Robson, 2020). For instance, President Donald Trump is branding the coronavirus pandemic as the “Chinese Virus,” which is racially offensive. As an Asian American, I find this term to be utterly disgusting and this label is putting my community at risk. This label has caused so much blame, hatred and racism towards Asians and I have personally heard and seen about it firsthand. My Uncle who lives in Daly City had his car windows smashed and broken into. When I heard about this I felt like it was unsafe to travel in public and people would look at me differently. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar would no longer “ascribe a nationality or region to the outbreak, saying during congressional testimony last month that “ethnicity is not what causes the novel coronavirus” (Forgey, 2020). The truth is that diseases can make anyone sick regardless of their race and ethnicity.
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus our government has informed and placed important measures that we can do to keep ourselves and others healthy. It first started, with the shelter-in-place order for the Bay Area and then this began to increase across the states. This required non-essential businesses and schools to temporarily close and ordered residents to stay at home to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Due to the shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders millions of people have lost their jobs which has heightened their stress and anxiety levels with uncertainty when they can return to work. However, essential workers such as health care providers, law enforcement, CDC scientists etc. are working around the clock to prevent the spread of this virus and are attempting to find a vaccine. “The U.S. The Department of Homeland Security has listed which industries and workers are “essential” to fighting the pandemic” (Collins, 2020). This is something entirely new that we have not been exposed or been prepared to fight for. But as a community, everyone is doing their part either by staying at home or going to work in hopes that everything will return back to normal.
References
Collins, T. (2020, March 24). These are the workers the U.S. government deems 'essential' amid the coronavirus pandemic. Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://fortune.com/2020/03/20/essential-workers-government-list-employees-coronavirus/
COVID-19 Latest Information. (n.d.). Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://www.umassmemorialhealthcare.org/covid-19-latest-information
Forgey, Q. (2020, March 18). Trump on 'Chinese virus' label: 'It's not racist at all'. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/18/trump-pandemic-drumbeat-coronavirus-135392
Robson, D. (2020, April 1). The fear of coronavirus is changing our psychology. Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200401-covid-19-how-fear-of-coronavirus-is-changing-our-psychology
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