The President Should Ditch The Term “Chinese Virus” But Not For The Reasons You Think

You might expect a Chinese American to offer an emotional protest, but my objections have little to do with feelings.

We should discontinue referring to SARS-CoV-2 as the “Chinese virus” not because it lacks political correctness, but because doing so is in the best interest of Americans. The term first appeared Mar 16, 2020, before which the President called it the Coronavirus.

Had he always referred to it as the “Chinese virus,” it might be possible to see it as a misunderstanding of emerging infectious diseases, but the term’s arrival coincided with something else. The White House published The President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America.

Context matters with behavior.

Saying China could have prevented this by telling us sooner, is a plausible assertion — but, it doesn’t explain the change.

The lessons we learned from recent outbreaks:

• [SARS] showed us we could not rely on others to protect us.