Wuhan Coronavirus: Megathread - Got too big

[Ellesse_warrior]

There's currently a locust plague heading towards Egypt.

God is mad and He's not taking prisoners this time.

The 4 busmen of the apocalypse is so much funnier now

 

[Extremist Frank]

Let's say this shit gets actually oh-my-God levels of apocalyptically biblical, and China loses say 30-50 million to this plague (it'll burn itself out first, but bear with me). That's a drop in the bucket, the country has a population of what, one point seven billion now? That's like four people dropping dead in the mid-sized town of around 30k I live in. The generation that replaces them will be squalling in their bassinets before the last body gets shoved into the mass grave.

30-50 million dead will be absolutely catastrophic to (1) China's tourism sector and (2) China's manufacturing base.

I posted an al jazeera article in this thread earlier (you can check my posts), but they cited a S&P estimate that a 10% decrease in tourism will reduce China's GDP growth by 1.2% -- that is monumental.

Moreover, Wuhan is China's 9th most visited city and one of its central manufacturing and logistics hubs. While workers can be replaced, Wuhan will likely be shut down for months, not to mention the rest of China.

The real point isn't population loss, its the economic catastrophe China is facing.

 

[JosephStalin]

Whoa! Secretly shot inside a hospital.

Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 on Twitter

“Bilingual titles added. 8 bodies in 5 minutes! More are lying inside to be moved out. Somebody secretly shot this video from No. 3 Hopital in #Wuhan during #coronarovirus #武汉肺炎 字幕版 某網友秘訪武漢第三醫院，五分钟功夫就見到八具屍體拉走去火化場，而且里面还有。 https://t.co/VBS6U7HIWW”

twitter.com

Woman arrested for being without a mask.

Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 on Twitter

“Somewhere in China, woman got arrested for not wearing a mask. 不戴口罩一律抓。不清楚是哪里。知道的请留言。#武汉肺炎 #武汉 #Wuhan #WuhanPneumonia #WuhanSARS #coronavirus #CoronaOutbreak https://t.co/DIw7wmuWFJ”

twitter.com

Arresting people in Chungking for not wearing masks in public. Chungking is about 475 miles from Wuhan. Well, if it's the law to wear a mask in public places, where are they ever going to get enough good masks for everyone?

Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 on Twitter

“Police in Chongqing, China round up people with no masks, saying it is illegal now to not wear a mask at public places. 重慶萬州，警方聲稱不戴口罩違法，直接抓捕。#武汉肺炎 #武汉 #Wuhan #WuhanPneumonia #WuhanSARS #coronavirus #CoronaOutbreak https://t.co/A4wayWJ1G8”

twitter.com

 

[Ahriman]

The Pentagon is preparing to house up to 1,000 people at military sites who may need to be quarantined due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak

The Pentagon is preparing facilities at four military installations to hold up to 1,000 people quarantined to prevent the virus from spreading.

www.businessinsider.com

'There's no doubt': Top US infectious disease doctor says Wuhan coronavirus can spread even when people have no symptoms

The nation's top infectious disease doctor says a new study published Thursday night shows people can spread the Wuhan coronavirus before symptoms set in.

edition.cnn.com

Time to batten down the hatches, 'muricans.

 

[Dog-O-Tron 5000v5.0]

View attachment 1125664

I didn't know there was enough beavers to get 12 tons worth of beaver dongs.

BRB, going to Canadaa to become a 1700s style fur trapper....

 

[Ahriman]

Whoa! Secretly shot inside a hospital.

Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 on Twitter

“Bilingual titles added. 8 bodies in 5 minutes! More are lying inside to be moved out. Somebody secretly shot this video from No. 3 Hopital in #Wuhan during #coronarovirus #武汉肺炎 字幕版 某網友秘訪武漢第三醫院，五分钟功夫就見到八具屍體拉走去火化場，而且里面还有。 https://t.co/VBS6U7HIWW”

twitter.com

Archive:

 

[WinchesterPremium]

View attachment 1125849

Do you think they were Tangy?

 

[simulated goat]

Op-Ed in the LA Times in how we shouldn't quarantine anybody, just tell everybody to wash their hands and for those who deem themselves sick to stay home.

---
Op-Ed: International overreaction to the coronavirus is more dangerous than the virus itself

By KATHERINE A. MASON
JAN. 31, 2020

11:16 AM
In April 2003, I was evacuated from my post teaching English in Guangzhou, China, at the height of the SARS epidemic. I was 23. While transiting in Chicago on my way home to Philadelphia, I called my parents. That’s when they informed me that they were not coming to pick me up. Convinced that I was going to be Patient Zero for an American outbreak of SARS, they told me to take a cab to my sister’s apartment, where they intended to lock me up for 10 days with only a bag of groceries and a DVD player to keep me company.
I had no symptoms of SARS and had not been in contact with any SARS patients. According to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time, that meant that I was not a risk. Deciding that my parents were overreacting, I went to the worst possible place to travel to when you might have a deadly disease: Manhattan.
I did not have SARS and did not seed a new plague in Manhattan. But the message that SARS was a cause for panic was received — not just by me, but eventually by my Chinese friends as well.
Fueled by press criticism and considerable pressure from the global health community to prove that it was doing something, the Chinese government jumped into gear. It did what it does best: exercise its authoritarian power in the most dramatic, highly visible way possible. Cheered on by the international community, it took disease control measures including many things that would not and could not happen anywhere else: sealing off entire hospitals, schools and apartment buildings full of people; rapidly building SARS facilities, including an entire SARS hospital in one week; and setting up neighborhood watch systems to root out potential carriers of the disease.

Quarantined in their university dorm rooms, my friends back in Guangzhou were so frightened that they said that they finally understood how Americans felt after 9/11. The World Health Organization praised China’s actions and credited them with the success of the global SARS containment effort.
As I learned over the next several years while traveling back and forth to China to study the aftereffects of SARS, the message that the Chinese received from that outbreak was that draconian actions in the name of infectious disease control are necessary, desirable and should overtake any other public health concerns.
China’s No. 1 public health goal became to never again be the source of a global epidemic like SARS. In the years following SARS, China spent vast amounts of money to overhaul its public health infrastructure, expand its infectious disease departments and develop sophisticated surveillance and containment systems. It eliminated most of the live-animal markets and restaurants that gave cities like Guangzhou much of their character. It set up strict screening and quarantine protocols at hospitals and ports of entry.
Seventeen years later, the disease-control apparatus has cranked into high gear with the coronavirus outbreak, quarantining tens of millions of China’s own citizens, shutting down entire metropolises in the process. And once again the international community is fueling panic and overreaction.


The U.S. has raised the threat level for travel to China to the same as for Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. Russia is closing down swaths of its 2,600-mile border with China. And the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has declared the outbreak a global health emergency and praised China for taking measures that would not be acceptable or even legal in a large number of the WHO’s member countries.
But what the WHO is cheering is both ineffective and dangerous. The virus has already spread. Barricading Wuhan, a city larger than New York City, and efforts to ban travel to and from a country with one-fifth of the world’s population or shut down trade routes are very unlikely to prevent further spread of the virus.
The coronavirus is scaring people because it is new and much is not known about it. But what we can tell so far is that this is no Ebola. Most people who contract it recover just fine. The fatality rate appears to be considerably lower than SARS and is probably much lower than it appears right now, since so many cases are very likely going unreported and mild versions of the disease are probably not being counted at all. Most fatalities are among the elderly and those with preexisting conditions.
The situation in Wuhan, where the vast majority of cases are, is being made far worse by the panic and extreme measures being taken. Panicked and trapped citizens are rushing to the hospital at the first sign of a sniffle. Hospitals are overwhelmed with thousands of people who probably do not have the virus — but are far more likely to contract it after waiting for hours in crowded waiting rooms with people who do.
Meanwhile, those with other diseases and urgent health needs are not able to get timely care as huge amounts of resources are redirected toward fighting the virus. How many people might be dying from heart attacks in China because hospitals are paying attention to nothing but the coronavirus?
What is needed now is calm — both in China and throughout the global community. Citizens of all countries should stay home if they are ill and should wash their hands often in any case. Scientists should do their jobs in tracking and studying this new disease, without inciting public panic. In the meantime, broad quarantines of the general population (beyond those who are sick) should be lifted. This is not the end of the world. Treating the coronavirus outbreak as if it were will do a lot more harm than good.
Katherine A. Mason is an assistant professor of anthropology at Brown University and author of “Infectious Change: Reinventing Chinese Public Health After an Epidemic.”

FFS, it's fourteen days. I'd take advantage of the time to drink but that's just me I guess.

 

[Thomas Talus]

I'm sorry in advance for the stale ass meme but:
God: so how many plagues will suffice?
China: Y E S
I swear someone should give Moses a call see if he got a hand in this one.

It turns out that one-child policies make you particularly vulnerable to "death of all firstborn" plagues.

 

[Jet Fuel Johnny]

Let's say this shit gets actually oh-my-God levels of apocalyptically biblical, and China loses say 30-50 million to this plague (it'll burn itself out first, but bear with me). That's a drop in the bucket, the country has a population of what, one point seven billion now? That's like four people dropping dead in the mid-sized town of around 30k I live in. The generation that replaces them will be squalling in their bassinets before the last body gets shoved into the mass grave.

I see people say this kind of dumb shit all the time.

First of all, those people had jobs, they weren't all unemployed robots hanging around the eCig shop with their dongles out. These people are going to be involved with everything from transportation to running the electrical grid to working at stores. That's going to be, say 28-47 million jobs that are suddenly empty. That's also 30-50 million corpses that have to be cleaned up in less than a few months, with all the associated diseases and resource allocation and effort by the living.

This isn't going to hit peasant villages that kill everyone that comes within a mile, or basements full of neets, or neckbeards who never leave their apartment, this is going to kill people who work with the public or who cannot take days off due to "mission essential" as well as government officials. A LARGE percentage of your medical system will have been part of the casualties, further dislocating your infrastructure.

You're talking about 30-50 million jobs suddenly no longer putting in tax money, going to work, and in some cases they have to figure out how to replace those people.

In the meantime, you have hundreds of millions sick, for weeks, no longer going to their jobs.

Using FEMA and COG metrics, if you had 30-50 million dead, you had 300-500 million SICK for weeks. With more logistics fuckups. Then you have people who starved to death, died in the panic, were killed by mobs, who died of other reasons than the plague (Human stupidity will be the number one killer out of all of these), then you have the millions who's immune systems were compromised and died of other diseases, then you have the suicides, the murders, and the just plain acts of god.

So, that means that if China suffers 30-50 million dead, and hundreds of millions of sick, their logistics disrupted in a way that will take months or years to fix, their GDP and economy fucking wrecked, entire cities abandoned, the ruling politically party maybe fatally wounded, MOUNDS OF DEAD, with the secondary waves of disease and death from the bodies, lack of water, lack of power, lack of food, lack of basic survival needs.

50 million might not seem that much when you look at the fact they have 1.36 billion, after all, it's only 3.6%, right?

Well, to use your example, that's 1,080 dying in your town alone. Now, you've got to safely dispose of those bodies, come up with a way to replace them all NOW, and remember, it isn't the recluses and the like (And Methican Americans are notoriously hard to kill, so don't think it's gonna be largely them) it's going to be people working in the stores, government, police, medical, power plants, shipping and receiving.

I agree with "Don't get excited yet, she's still dancing at the strip club" but she's always working the fuck out that stripper pole.

But don't downplay it like if those 30-50 million die it actually won't matter because miraculously they won't have had any part in running the country, making sure things work, and will magically teleport into graves.

 

[Fareal]

Let's say this shit gets actually oh-my-God levels of apocalyptically biblical, and China loses say 30-50 million to this plague (it'll burn itself out first, but bear with me). That's a drop in the bucket, the country has a population of what, one point seven billion now? That's like four people dropping dead in the mid-sized town of around 30k I live in. The generation that replaces them will be squalling in their bassinets before the last body gets shoved into the mass grave.

Reminder that - although this is still a matter of controversy amongst Western scholars - the best estimates we have for deaths in the Great Famine are all in the ballpark of 40 million.

That's within living memory (late 50s to early 60s). The Chinese populace will recover from tens of millions of deaths. It already did.

 

[Glad I couldn't help]

Canada's national broadcaster on fighting the real disease.

--
'Do you have the Chinese disease?' Amy Go's friend observed a pair of East Asian men being asked on a bus
CBC News · Posted: Feb 01, 2020 5:50 PM ET | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago

Amy Go has heard from many friends and family members about the xenophobia they've experienced as misinformation and stereotypes run rampant. Go is the interim national president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice in Toronto. (James Morrison/CBC)
11
comments
At Amy Go's Lunar New Year family dinner in Toronto on Friday, celebrations were mixed with a palpable sense that "racism is still very much alive" in Canada.
As fears spread about the threat of the newly discovered strain of coronavirus that's hit hardest in China, Go has heard from many friends and family members about the xenophobia they've experienced as misinformation and stereotypes run rampant.
"My sister-in-law said in her workplace there were people coughing and the Chinese staff were told by the manager not to come back to work the next day, but not the other staff," Go told CBC News.

That's just one example.
A friend told Go that when she got on a bus the other day, people around her immediately moved away. Go says her friend watched as a white woman asked two East Asian men wearing protective masks, "Do you have the Chinese disease?"
Then there are examples of school kids being taunted or bullied for being Chinese.

Dr. Nadia Alam@DocSchmadia
https://twitter.com/DocSchmadia/status/1222706344739909633

Today my son was cornered at school by kids who wanted to “test” him for #Coronavirus just because he is half-Chinese. They chased him. Scared him. And made him cry.

I was the same age when I was bullied for being Pakistani.

It’s 2020. I thought things had changed by now...

31.4K
9:21 PM - Jan 29, 2020
Twitter Ads info and privacy

7,413 people are talking about this



It's a worrying reminder to Go, who is the interim national president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, of the isolation and stigma that came with the 2003 SARS outbreak that killed 44 Canadians among nearly 800 victims worldwide. Amid the fears, Asian-run businesses were hit hard as people kept their distance — so much so that then-prime minister Jean Chretien visited a Chinatown restaurant at the height of the crisis to show there was no need for panic.
Compared with 2003, Go says this time around social media seems to have made it easier for hateful ideas to spread.
A 'punch in the gut'
"I do find this time it's even more, it's worse because this sort of uncensored and brazen, brazen hate speech and racism could rear its head without any sanctions as compared to the time we were living through SARS," she said.
For Chinese Canadians, it's a "punch in the gut," said Go. "Unfortunately the 'yellow peril' term used against the Chinese, it's still here."
According to the most recent census, more than 1.5 million people in Canada identify as Chinese.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitc...irus-racism-misinformation-waterloo-1.5448012
It's that kind of sentiment that dozens turned out to fight during a walk through Toronto's Chinatown on Saturday.
"I thought I would just have Torontonians join me as a show of tangible support for the Chinese Canadian community," said Chinatown resident and author Jay Pitter, who organized the event.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau gathers at the head of the table for tea during a Lunar New Year celebration at Casa Deluz in Scarborough, Ont., Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Trudeau said Canadians should support each other and avoid discrimination based on fear and misinformation. (Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press)
Pitter said she was disheartened by stories of Chinese Canadians being singled out on the bus, at work and at school, and decided to act, holding the walk on the start of Black History Month — a date she says isn't without significance.
"I certainly come from a culture of people who face lots of discrimination within the public realm and so I'm deeply concerned about any other community facing the same and similar challenges."
'No place in our country for discrimination'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a similar message to Canadians at a Lunar New Year celebration in Scarborough, Ont., on Saturday.
"There is no place in our country for discrimination driven by fear or misinformation," Trudeau said. "This is not something Canadians will ever stand for."

Jay Pitter said she was disheartened by stories of Chinese Canadians being singled out on the bus, at work and at school, and decided to act. (James Morrison/CBC)
In his remarks, Trudeau sought to show his support for those who have been victims of discrimination and those worried about loved ones abroad.
"I know it's been a tough start of the year for many of you," Trudeau said. "Our government will always stand with you. We will always speak up against division."

For Go, that kind of public display of support is important. But she said she would also like to see more tangible measures such as a hotline for people experiencing racism, greater monitoring of social media for misinformation and resources for people whose rights whose rights may be violated to get the information and support they need.
Saturday's walk in Toronto was one step in the show of solidarity.

"Public places like streets and transit reveal the very worst of who we are as a city, but they also reveal the very best of who we are," Pitter said.
"This is a city that will not tolerate this alienation and backlash."

 

[Bunny Tracks]

Right so that is Disease now possibly famine. What's next on the biblical list of plagues?

Now that you mention it, what's currently happening in China does eerily mirror the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, albeit out of order.

First Horseman Conquest, or Pestilence: While the first rider is now widely considered to Pestilence, he used to be Conquest. Either way, it fits. China engaged in global conquest of the world's markets, and is currently busy carving up all of Africa, and now they have to deal with the Coronavirus.

Second Horseman War: Hasn't happened yet, but it might. Although, if you wish to count the Chinese civil war last century, it works.

Third Horseman Famine: Not only do they have to do with the Coronavirus, now there's Bird Flu going around along with the African Swine Flu that they were already dealing with. The food shortages brought out by these, and the further break down of society means unless there's huge international aid coming, famine is inevitable.

Forth Horseman Death: He's already here, and he's already taking names.

 

[Bum Driller]

WELL, IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME XI ASKED FOR SOME SUPPLIES! SHOULD HAVE DONE IT TWO WEEKS AGO! SHIT DOESN'T GROW ON TREES! AND XI, MAKE SURE YOUR CUSTOMS PEOPLE DON'T HOLD UP THE SHIPMENTS!

Fuck me to tears!

Okay, folks. On top of the ongoing African Swine Flu, plus the coronavirus, now we have one that kills chickens and affects people too. Things are moving from the fucked to the surreal.

Wonder if this virus and the coronavirus could combine in some way and mutate.

Emperor Xi must be wondering what's going to come next - a plague of locusts? A massive shit storm? (No, that's happening now.) I just feel sorry for the Chinese people.

Well, it certainly seems that the Celestial Bureucracy is indeed pondering whether his Mandate of Heaven to rule has expired.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

It does appear from information given that these victims endure a 14 day struggle with the virus before dying.

I'd suggest we will see our first fatality out of China within 48-72 hours, and we should see a dramatic rise in the deaths in about 4 days to levels of about a total of 500-700 by 2-3 Feb.

But again, it seems like the mortality rate is known as bodies are easy to see, but cases aren't (hiding, not reported, stay at home etc.). I would be surprised if the mortality rate goes beyond 1.5%.

Then again whats worse, a virus that kills 30% that spreads to 10,000 or a virus that kills 1.5% and spreads to 5 million...lovely choices.

The second. More dead and more collateral damage.

 

[Synesthesia]

Canada's national broadcaster on fighting the real disease.

--
'Do you have the Chinese disease?' Amy Go's friend observed a pair of East Asian men being asked on a bus
CBC News · Posted: Feb 01, 2020 5:50 PM ET | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago

Amy Go has heard from many friends and family members about the xenophobia they've experienced as misinformation and stereotypes run rampant. Go is the interim national president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice in Toronto. (James Morrison/CBC)
11
comments
At Amy Go's Lunar New Year family dinner in Toronto on Friday, celebrations were mixed with a palpable sense that "racism is still very much alive" in Canada.
As fears spread about the threat of the newly discovered strain of coronavirus that's hit hardest in China, Go has heard from many friends and family members about the xenophobia they've experienced as misinformation and stereotypes run rampant.
"My sister-in-law said in her workplace there were people coughing and the Chinese staff were told by the manager not to come back to work the next day, but not the other staff," Go told CBC News.

That's just one example.
A friend told Go that when she got on a bus the other day, people around her immediately moved away. Go says her friend watched as a white woman asked two East Asian men wearing protective masks, "Do you have the Chinese disease?"
Then there are examples of school kids being taunted or bullied for being Chinese.


7,413 people are talking about this



It's a worrying reminder to Go, who is the interim national president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, of the isolation and stigma that came with the 2003 SARS outbreak that killed 44 Canadians among nearly 800 victims worldwide. Amid the fears, Asian-run businesses were hit hard as people kept their distance — so much so that then-prime minister Jean Chretien visited a Chinatown restaurant at the height of the crisis to show there was no need for panic.
Compared with 2003, Go says this time around social media seems to have made it easier for hateful ideas to spread.
A 'punch in the gut'
"I do find this time it's even more, it's worse because this sort of uncensored and brazen, brazen hate speech and racism could rear its head without any sanctions as compared to the time we were living through SARS," she said.
For Chinese Canadians, it's a "punch in the gut," said Go. "Unfortunately the 'yellow peril' term used against the Chinese, it's still here."
According to the most recent census, more than 1.5 million people in Canada identify as Chinese.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitc...irus-racism-misinformation-waterloo-1.5448012
It's that kind of sentiment that dozens turned out to fight during a walk through Toronto's Chinatown on Saturday.
"I thought I would just have Torontonians join me as a show of tangible support for the Chinese Canadian community," said Chinatown resident and author Jay Pitter, who organized the event.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau gathers at the head of the table for tea during a Lunar New Year celebration at Casa Deluz in Scarborough, Ont., Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Trudeau said Canadians should support each other and avoid discrimination based on fear and misinformation. (Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press)
Pitter said she was disheartened by stories of Chinese Canadians being singled out on the bus, at work and at school, and decided to act, holding the walk on the start of Black History Month — a date she says isn't without significance.
"I certainly come from a culture of people who face lots of discrimination within the public realm and so I'm deeply concerned about any other community facing the same and similar challenges."
'No place in our country for discrimination'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a similar message to Canadians at a Lunar New Year celebration in Scarborough, Ont., on Saturday.
"There is no place in our country for discrimination driven by fear or misinformation," Trudeau said. "This is not something Canadians will ever stand for."

Jay Pitter said she was disheartened by stories of Chinese Canadians being singled out on the bus, at work and at school, and decided to act. (James Morrison/CBC)
In his remarks, Trudeau sought to show his support for those who have been victims of discrimination and those worried about loved ones abroad.
"I know it's been a tough start of the year for many of you," Trudeau said. "Our government will always stand with you. We will always speak up against division."

For Go, that kind of public display of support is important. But she said she would also like to see more tangible measures such as a hotline for people experiencing racism, greater monitoring of social media for misinformation and resources for people whose rights whose rights may be violated to get the information and support they need.
Saturday's walk in Toronto was one step in the show of solidarity.

"Public places like streets and transit reveal the very worst of who we are as a city, but they also reveal the very best of who we are," Pitter said.
"This is a city that will not tolerate this alienation and backlash."

Rate me MOTI or what not, but my biggest hope is after this fiasco, is that SJWism is destroyed. Trudeau is going to have his country destroyed because he doesn't like mean words. Fuck'em, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink

 

[MadStan]

Then there is the American Mid-West. Welfare hand outs cases swamping the system. I'd be OK with them getting the vaccine a little later than most.

For every deadbeat that drops dead in the Mid West, we save in medicare and handouts, what, $30,000 per year over 10 years that's 300,000. A million of them go we save 300,000,000,000.

Sounds like a winner to me in every respect. Thanks China!

Confucius say "When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself."

 

[Feline Supremacist]

Rate me MOTI or what not, but my biggest hope is after this fiasco, is that SJWism is destroyed. Trudeau is going to have his country destroyed because he doesn't like mean words. Fuck'em, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink

People all over the world film everything but there's no video of this racism against the innocent Chinese? I call bullshit until there's actual video. This is all "I heard..." and "But she said..." garbage.

 

[HonsPonzud]

Canada's national broadcaster on fighting the real disease.

--
'Do you have the Chinese disease?' Amy Go's friend observed a pair of East Asian men being asked on a bus
CBC News · Posted: Feb 01, 2020 5:50 PM ET | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago

Amy Go has heard from many friends and family members about the xenophobia they've experienced as misinformation and stereotypes run rampant. Go is the interim national president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice in Toronto. (James Morrison/CBC)
11
comments
At Amy Go's Lunar New Year family dinner in Toronto on Friday, celebrations were mixed with a palpable sense that "racism is still very much alive" in Canada.
As fears spread about the threat of the newly discovered strain of coronavirus that's hit hardest in China, Go has heard from many friends and family members about the xenophobia they've experienced as misinformation and stereotypes run rampant.
"My sister-in-law said in her workplace there were people coughing and the Chinese staff were told by the manager not to come back to work the next day, but not the other staff," Go told CBC News.

That's just one example.
A friend told Go that when she got on a bus the other day, people around her immediately moved away. Go says her friend watched as a white woman asked two East Asian men wearing protective masks, "Do you have the Chinese disease?"
Then there are examples of school kids being taunted or bullied for being Chinese.

7,413 people are talking about this


It's a worrying reminder to Go, who is the interim national president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, of the isolation and stigma that came with the 2003 SARS outbreak that killed 44 Canadians among nearly 800 victims worldwide. Amid the fears, Asian-run businesses were hit hard as people kept their distance — so much so that then-prime minister Jean Chretien visited a Chinatown restaurant at the height of the crisis to show there was no need for panic.
Compared with 2003, Go says this time around social media seems to have made it easier for hateful ideas to spread.
A 'punch in the gut'
"I do find this time it's even more, it's worse because this sort of uncensored and brazen, brazen hate speech and racism could rear its head without any sanctions as compared to the time we were living through SARS," she said.
For Chinese Canadians, it's a "punch in the gut," said Go. "Unfortunately the 'yellow peril' term used against the Chinese, it's still here."
According to the most recent census, more than 1.5 million people in Canada identify as Chinese.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitc...irus-racism-misinformation-waterloo-1.5448012
It's that kind of sentiment that dozens turned out to fight during a walk through Toronto's Chinatown on Saturday.
"I thought I would just have Torontonians join me as a show of tangible support for the Chinese Canadian community," said Chinatown resident and author Jay Pitter, who organized the event.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau gathers at the head of the table for tea during a Lunar New Year celebration at Casa Deluz in Scarborough, Ont., Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Trudeau said Canadians should support each other and avoid discrimination based on fear and misinformation. (Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press)
Pitter said she was disheartened by stories of Chinese Canadians being singled out on the bus, at work and at school, and decided to act, holding the walk on the start of Black History Month — a date she says isn't without significance.
"I certainly come from a culture of people who face lots of discrimination within the public realm and so I'm deeply concerned about any other community facing the same and similar challenges."
'No place in our country for discrimination'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a similar message to Canadians at a Lunar New Year celebration in Scarborough, Ont., on Saturday.
"There is no place in our country for discrimination driven by fear or misinformation," Trudeau said. "This is not something Canadians will ever stand for."

Jay Pitter said she was disheartened by stories of Chinese Canadians being singled out on the bus, at work and at school, and decided to act. (James Morrison/CBC)
In his remarks, Trudeau sought to show his support for those who have been victims of discrimination and those worried about loved ones abroad.
"I know it's been a tough start of the year for many of you," Trudeau said. "Our government will always stand with you. We will always speak up against division."

For Go, that kind of public display of support is important. But she said she would also like to see more tangible measures such as a hotline for people experiencing racism, greater monitoring of social media for misinformation and resources for people whose rights whose rights may be violated to get the information and support they need.
Saturday's walk in Toronto was one step in the show of solidarity.

"Public places like streets and transit reveal the very worst of who we are as a city, but they also reveal the very best of who we are," Pitter said.
"This is a city that will not tolerate this alienation and backlash."

We clearly live in the end times when leaders are this fucking weak and rather trade their citizen's life / health for the "muh feels" distraction over seriously warning the population about the seriousness of this disease.

The millitary need to overthrow that weak ass government and impose what is necessary for survival at this point.

And i still vote to disinfect China the good old nuclear and napalm way, if they ask for european help being the number 2 superpower in the world then it's already way too late, it can't be saved.

 

[Ahriman]

Reset the counter!

Philippines reports coronavirus death, China toll reaches 304

Philippines death is first outside China and comes as countries impose strict restrictions on travel from China.

www.aljazeera.com

RT en Español on Twitter

“Un hombre falleció en plena calle en Wuhan (China), el epicentro del coronavirus, y durante horas nadie se atrevió a acercarse, temiendo que hubiera fallecido a causa de la infección. Todo lo que necesita saber: https://t.co/tOmplOvMO8 https://t.co/qna11cIfbB”

twitter.com

"A man died in broad daylight in Wuhan, the epicenter of Coronavirus, and no one dared to get near him for hours, in case he died of the infection."

They don't say what he died from, so it adds to the mystery.