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| Henry Walke, M.D., leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team at Travis Air Force Base, answers questions from the media after updating them on the evacuation of people from Hubei Province, China, who arrived at the base on a private charter late Tuesday evening. The Air Force base is one of two California military bases accepting flights carrying U.S. evacuees from China to be screened and quarantined as the coronavirus outbreak grows worldwide. EPA/PETER DASILVA |
By Jane Han
SAN FRANCISCO ― Starting last week, Kathy Yang has been getting a weird feeling while carrying on her daily business.
"At work, at Costco, at the doctor's office...I keep getting this odd feeling that people are looking at me in a way unlike before,'' said the 41-year-old, who works as a bank teller in the Bay Area. "Their facial expression looks as if they're trying to decipher if I'm sick or not.''
So far, only 12 cases of the China-originated coronavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. But fear and racism over the new and unpredictable virus appears to be spreading faster than the virus itself.
"I've lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years and this is the first time I've felt discriminated to this level on so many occasions in such a short period of time," Yang said.
Many others living in the U.S. say they've also been racially victimized because of the virus.
"I went shopping with another Korean friend last week and we were waiting in line to pay," said Kim Ji-hyun, 32, who lives in San Jose. "We were speaking softly in Korean and a white female shopper, who was cradling an infant in her baby carrier, looked at us up and down a few times, covered her baby's face with a sweater and then finally stepped aside to go to the very end of the line. The whole situation made us feel very awkward."
Kim believes the other shopper thought she and her friend were Chinese and was afraid that they carried the deadly flu-like virus.
In the U.S., it's not uncommon for Koreans to get mistaken as Chinese, but the misconception is becoming more widespread, while at the same time, many people ― even including children ― may be hoping to avoid Asians altogether.
"My third-grade son came home from school upset, saying his friends are telling him to stay away because he might have the 'China virus,'" said Michelle Kwak, who got so frustrated that she emailed the school district to urge teachers to educate young students on the matter.
Another mom, who didn't want to be named, said her six-year-old daughter wasn't invited to a play date because the hosting mom thought she was Chinese.
"My daughter's friend, who is of course just an innocent child, told me that she couldn't invite my daughter because her mom thought our family was Chinese and that we might have the coronavirus," said the mom. "I frankly didn't know where to begin. I didn't even want to explain anything because of the level of ignorance."
As the fast-spreading illness, which has infected more than 30,000 people and killed over 600 worldwide as of Friday, continues to spread at an alarming rate, more Koreans in the U.S. are expressing concerns that racist attacks will become more rampant in the coming days.
"There is even a term for it," said Sarah Cohen, a clinical psychologist practicing in the Seattle area. "It's called behavioral immune system and it's where humans engage in behavioral defenses against disease-causing factors in their immediate environment.
"We've seen it throughout human history and will probably see it go strong in the current coronavirus situation. It is definitely not an excuse to be racist, but regardless, we should expect to see xenophobia rise."
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