Now that the uproar about coronavirus has seemingly reached a plateau, we need to talk about the problems it has created in its wake. 

No, I’m not talking about the grand total 100 people in the United States who have been diagnosed with the virus. I’m talking about the hysteria and sheer terror that has accompanied the illness, part of which I believe can be attributed to two things: the intensity of the media coverage and the blatant xenophobia in popular culture.

Ever since the coronavirus seemingly exploded out of Wuhan, China, it has quickly spread around the globe, infecting people in over 75 countries, completely dominating international news headlines. Up until the virus broke, much of the media coverage in the United States had been covering the Australian wildfires, but this shifted drastically starting in mid-January. 

An article by TIME noticed that the “wall-to-wall coverage of the virus, known as 2019-nCoV, has been unusually heavy.” This stands even against recent health threats, including the Ebola virus outbreak from 2018. According to data taken from LexisNexis, throughout the month of January, the first month of the outbreak, there were 41,000 English-print newspapers that mentioned the word “coronavirus.” This is staggering compared to the 1,800 mentions of Ebola within the first month of the outbreak in English papers. 

So, why the disparity?

The reasons could be debated, but what it ultimately boils down to is the relationship between the two areas from which the viruses originated and the United States. 

The coronavirus came from a region in China, an economic superpower the United States has, until recently, considered a strong trade partner and is well known to the American public. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where Ebola originated, is not one of our largest trading partners and is not considered economically strong. For these reasons, the connection to the American public is much weaker. 

Further, China is a prominent figure in the daily news, while Africa is often an afterthought and gets pushed aside. 

Now this raises a new question: is media coverage of viral epidemics influenced by racial discrimination?

The short answer is yes, and its impact on public opinion is clearly visible. Ever since coronavirus began spreading, fear started to grow, and from that fear came xenophobia. 

Reports have come from all over the country about people fearing not just Chinese individuals, but individuals of any Asian descent. Social media posts have gained traction about people in South Korea running away from Chinese tourists and shutting them out of their restaurants; Asian tourists in European countries being asked if they were Chinese and even asked to leave facilities; a Vietnamese-American woman was dehumanized and ignored on a flight from Guadalajara, Mexico, back home to California.

There have been plenty of xenophobic incidents in the United States as well. A Chinese student at Barnard College in New York had placed herself under self-quarantine and was then “warned by a college official not to leave her dorm room.” The message, sent via email, was quickly posted online, where it generated public outcry and accusations of discrimination. 

I have noticed even here, as a student of Asian descent, it was hard for me not to feel at least a little bit awkward as I coughed into my arm in the middle of lecture and realized nearly every head had turned in my direction. 

There was a point where so many Asian students were wearing face masks that I almost felt compelled to start wearing them myself, even when I was perfectly healthy. I heard reports about a Chinese TA who was even asked by her students to wear a face mask in class. 

While these viruses are scary to think about, the vast media coverage placing the spotlight on it has been excessive, and honestly, people should be much more worried about the flu, which has killed between 14,000 and 36,000 people in the United States this season alone. 

How many people has the coronavirus killed in the U.S.? 

Six.

A virus and media coverage does not permit people to be discriminatory or rude, nor do fear or ignorance excuse open prejudice. All it does is fuel a larger, bigger epidemic: racism.  If you’re that worried about getting sick, then wash your hands, wear a mask and get a flu shot. Otherwise, leave people alone.

Sabrina is a junior in LAS. 

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