After “The China Virus” Went Viral: Racially Charged Coronavirus Coverage and Trends in Bias Against Asian Americans

Abstract

On March 8, 2020, there was a 650% increase in Twitter retweets using the term “Chinese virus” and related terms. On March 9, there was an 800% increase in the use of these terms in conservative news media articles. Using data from non-Asian respondents of the Project Implicit “Asian Implicit Association Test” from 2007–2020 ( n = 339,063), we sought to ascertain if this change in media tone increased bias against Asian Americans. Local polynomial regression and interrupted time-series analyses revealed that Implicit Americanness Bias—or the subconscious belief that European American individuals are more “American” than Asian American individuals—declined steadily from 2007 through early 2020 but reversed trend and began to increase on March 8, following the increase in stigmatizing language in conservative media outlets. The trend reversal in bias was more pronounced among conservative individuals. This research provides evidence that the use of stigmatizing language increased subconscious beliefs that Asian Americans are “perpetual foreigners.” Given research that perpetual foreigner bias can beget discriminatory behavior and that experiencing discrimination is associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes, this research sounds an alarm about the effects of stigmatizing media on the health and welfare of Asian Americans.

Exacerbation of Inequities in Use of Diagnostic Radiology During the Early Stages of Reopening After COVID-19

“…Patients of Asian ethnicity have been reported to have higher levels of subjective fear of COVID-19 [ 23 ], which may in part account for our finding. These findings are also consistent with other studies that demonstrate the negative effects on health behaviors of the Asian community as a result of xenophobia and discrimination [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Anti-Asian discrimination and the Asian-white mental health gap during COVID-19

“…Factors that lead to the rise of anti-Asian racism include not only fear and uncertainty inherent to novel infectious disease (Noel 2020), the presumptive origin of COVID-19 (Cheng 2020), and misleading media coverage (Darling-Hammond et al 2020;Wen et al 2020) but also, more importantly, the historical antecedents that link Asian Americans to infectious diseases and the long-standing stereotype that characterizes Asian Americans as "perpetual foreigners" (Cheah et al 2020;Litam 2020;Man 2020;Mamuji et al 2020;Tessler, Choi, and Kao 2020). Indeed, people of Asian descent have experienced both verbal and physical violence motivated by racism and xenophobia from the time they arrived in America in the late 1700s up until the present day (Gover et al 2020).…”

Stigma Linked to COVID-19

“… Policies and regulations should be enforced to ensure that emergency services are always provided to patients within a healthcare facility Avoidance of victims [5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]  In Italy, reports suggest that the public avoided people perceived to be of Chinese origin  In Burkina Faso, neighbors started avoiding a patient who was tested for COVID-19  In India, airplane crew members were stigmatized  In Egypt, a driver refused to transport a man of Chinese origin  In the USA, Black and Asian adults report more adverse events since the start of the pandemic; individuals who wear face masks feel discriminated  In Nepal, febrile patients were avoided by some healthcare institutions  In France, minority ethnic areas had to undergo longer curfews than other neighborhoods; Asians were kicked off from public transport  In the Philippines, a priest and a worker were socially excluded due to a potential contact with a COVID-19 patient and due to flu-like symptoms  In Bangladesh, a man was ostracized after developing fever and cough; he eventually committed suicide  In China, foreigners have been barred from entering some restaurants and some fitness facilities  Africans have been evicted from their apartments…”