As the coronavirus is increasingly spreading, so is racism. Many Chinese citizens are not only falling victim to disease, but falling victim to cruel and unnecessary racism. They are not responsible for the Coronavirus. If anything there should be racism and anti-sentiment towards the bats that were the initial hosts of the virus. However, everyone seems to forget about the bat that started all of this? The 2019 nCoV is a beta-coronavirus, meaning their origin is in bats. It was through strain mutation it was able to be transmitted to humans. Then through further mutation human to human transmission was possible. This spread of transmission is very rare. It has been seen with MERS and SARS in the past. The nCoV has signs of going though antigenic shift because there has been changes in what the virus infects and how it is transmitted between animals to people then to people to people.
Did the French go too far?
On a French newspaper there were offensive headlines “Yellow Alert” and “New Yellow Peril?” Yellow Peril is an old racist ideology of the 19th century in Western Countries towards Asians.
Although the newspaper claims they had no intent on being racist. They perpetuated one of the main racist stereotypes of the Asian culture by utilizing the term “yellow.” The increase in anti-Chinese sentiment is unfortunate and truly disgusting. However racism is a longstanding protection and defense mechanism. Instead of people doing their part in further preventing the spread of the virus, they are turning to habits that only segregate us as people.
An Update on the 2019 nCoV
In the newest report by the World Health Organization there has been 34,886 confirmed cases. This is 3419 new cases from the last report. It has reached 24 countries including the United States, Canada, certain European countries, Australia and more. Its greatest incidence is still in China, with 34,598 of the 34,886 confirmed cases. There are 288 confirmed cases outside of China.
Viral Sequencing
An important update to the virus is the posting of the full genome of the virus. It was posted to GenBank, which is the NIH genetic Sequencing database. Scientists were able to compare the sequences to the virus of those infected in the United States to those in China. It was similar to the initial sequence, which is now suggesting a single recent emergence of the virus from an animal reservoir. There are many links of infection to seafood and live animal markets suggesting animal-to person spread. So where is the need for racism? It is not humans only transmitting the disease. Animals are a main player in the spread of the coronavirus.
How Severe is It?
The severity of the illness varies case by case. The reports have ranged from mild to severe and overall death. People are found to be most contagious when they are symptomatic because as a respiratory disease it is spread through the inhalation of virus containing secretions. The CDC recommends to help lower this threat to get your flu shot. This preventative action helps stop the spread of germs. So once again, there is even more benefit to obtaining your flu shot this year.
The Good, The Bad, The Microbiome 