As some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, continue to call the coronavirus the “Chinese Virus,” the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging people to avoid such labels.
A reporter for the South China Morning Post asked WHO officials on Thursday about Trump’s decision to refer to the virus as the “Chinese Virus.”
“It’s really important that we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to profiling of individuals associated with the virus. This is just something we need to all avoid,” Dr. Mike Ryan, the head of the WHO’s Emergencies Programmme, said.
“It’s easy, in situations, to summarize or to make comments that are not intended to do that, but ultimately end up having that outcome. And I’m sure anyone would regret profiling a virus along an ethnic line. That’s not something anybody would want,” he added.
Additionally, Ryan noted that the swine flu — which originated in North America — was not labeled the “North American Flu.”
He continued:
“This is a time for solidarity. This is a time for facts. This is a time to move forward together, to fight this virus together. There is no blame in this. All we need now is to identify the things we need to do to move forward quickly, with speed, and to avoid any indication of ethnic or other associations with this virus.”
Ryan is not the only WHO official to urge people to avoid calling the coronavirus the “Chinese Virus.” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus previously said it was “painful to see” to see people refer to the virus in those terms.
When talking about #COVID19, certain words & language may have a negative meaning for people and fuel stigmatizing attitudes https://t.co/yShiCMfYF3 #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/d54qL4LY2H
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 2, 2020
Trump defended his use of the term on Wednesday when he was asked if it was racist or put Asian in risk, “It comes from China, it’s not racist at all.”
“It comes from China, that’s why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate,” he added.
Additionally, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters he did not “object” to people “geographically identifying” the source of the virus. He also said he did not think it was racist to call it the “Chinese Virus” because “we’re not talking about Asians. We’re talking about China where these viruses emanate from and which have created this pandemic.”
Cornyn also said that he thinks China “is to blame” for the virus because of “the culture where people eat bats, and snakes, and dogs, and things like that.”
