Abstract / Description: 

The COVID-19 pandemic and its link to Wuhan, the Chinese industrial city where the virus was first detected in December, has prompted harassment and racial violence against Asian Americans and concerns among experts of longer-lasting effects on emotional and mental health.

Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of the San Francisco group Chinese for Affirmative Action, recalls one mother who contacted the group to report her child was being bullied at school and called “Coronavirus.”

“She said that she noticed that her child was very depressed and very quiet and said that she did not want to be Asian,” Choi recalled. “So obviously there is a mental health impact.”

Citing an “alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic,” the organization joined with other groups in March to launch a reporting center to track harassment against Asian Americans.

Collection: 
eCardio Hub Collection
Category: 
COVID-19 Impact on Minority Health
Date: 
2020
Author: 
Yaodong Gu