Coronavirus (Sports-Related and General)

[Lawman]

I would agree with that.

[Lawman]

Before we can get to a vaccine, we may be able to land on one or two effective courses of treatment, which would also be a good thing. I'd love to also see them come up w/ a drug that, perhaps, could be used by the more vulnerable population to take as some sort of prophylactic.

[phillychuck]

This one seems very promising, but it's only in animal testing now:

Biocryst Pharma’s Galidesivir, a potential antiviral for coronavirus treatment

The antiviral drug Galidesivir (BCX4430) has shown broad-spectrum activity against a wide range of pathogens including coronavirus. It is a nucleoside RNA polymerase inhibitor that disrupts the process of viral replication.

The drug has already shown survival benefits in patients against deadly viruses such as Ebola, Zika, Marburg, and Yellow fever.

Galidesivir is currently in advanced development stage under the Animal Rule to combat multiple potential viral threats including coronaviruses, flaviviruses filoviruses, paramyxoviruses, togaviruses, bunyaviruses, and arenaviruses.

[rpmcmurphy]

It is a hallmark of racism to dehumanize people. Now it seems that certain racists are humanizing a virus. I am by no means calling anyone here a racist, but I think that the naming issue is more significant than what some would believe it to be.

We have made great strides just in recent decades in being more sensitive about racial and ethnic appellations. In my childhood, ‘Negro’ was what blacks preferred to be called, to avoid the all too common (and widely accepted in white society) ‘n-word’. Now, blacks prefer the term ‘black’, so our society has rightfully respected that preference.

Ebola and Zika refer to specific regions within Africa. They are not known as the ‘African virus’. By this logic, ‘Wuhan virus’ is less ethnically offensive than ‘Chinese virus’, but it’s easy enough to use the commonly accepted ‘Covid-19’ designation and be done with it.

Attaching the term ‘Chinese’ to a disease is a transparent attempt by some in this administration to shift the blame from their woefully and inexcusably inept response by making China the enemy.

It’s not 1908 (or even 1980) anymore.

[bigegypt0417]

It is a hallmark of racism to dehumanize people. Now it seems that certain racists are humanizing a virus. I am by no means calling anyone here a racist, but I think that the naming issue is more significant than what some would believe it to be.

I think it's always "not a big deal" when you have no dog in the actual fight...it allows you to believe it's not important.

[phillychuck]

Let's leave speculation about people's motivation out of this discussion. I'm not talking about Trump or Biden or any political figure when I post about naming the virus.

Here is the approximate order in which I hear names being used:

1. Coronavirus
2. Wuhan Virus
3. COVID-19
4. Chinese Virus

Coronavirus is by far and away the winner, being used in both media and conversation at a much higher rate than the other three combined. That is really unfortunate, because coronavirus is the name of a common virus family, some of which are quite mild. This runs a real risk of extreme panic next time a mild, common-cold causing coronavirus becomes active. I prefer any of the other three names to using coronavirus because of that. (Actually COVID-19 is also technically incorrect...the virus is named SARS-CoV-2, the disease is COVID-19.) The general public knows that this virus originated in Wuhan, China due to the intensive media coverage. An average person calling it the "Chinese Virus" is no more racist than a historian referring to the H1N1 outbreak in 1918 as the Spanish Flu.

[bkeich]

It is a hallmark of racism to dehumanize people. Now it seems that certain racists are humanizing a virus. I am by no means calling anyone here a racist, but I think that the naming issue is more significant than what some would believe it to be.

We have made great strides just in recent decades in being more sensitive about racial and ethnic appellations. In my childhood, ‘Negro’ was what blacks preferred to be called, to avoid the all too common (and widely accepted in white society) ‘n-word’. Now, blacks prefer the term ‘black’, so our society has rightfully respected that preference.

Ebola and Zika refer to specific regions within Africa. They are not known as the ‘African virus’. By this logic, ‘Wuhan virus’ is less ethnically offensive than ‘Chinese virus’, but it’s easy enough to use the commonly accepted ‘Covid-19’ designation and be done with it.

Attaching the term ‘Chinese’ to a disease is a transparent attempt by some in this administration to shift the blame from their woefully and inexcusably inept response by making China the enemy.

It’s not 1908, or even 1980 anymore.

I know what you are saying, but I think you are overstating the effects of naming this particular outbreak based on Wuhan. For one thing, at least in the US, it is widely being referred to as Coronavirus (poorly named since that is a class of viruses) or COVID-19. Wuhan is dropping from the name already.

But that isnt the point. The greatest health issue in modern times was the 1918 Spanish Flu, but I dont think there was widespread attacks on people of spanish decent, although I am sure there were some incidents that someone could site. The simple fact is that many of the annual viruses we get do come out of China, partially due to population density, partially due to certain activities with live animals. You are correct in naming Ebola and Zika as from Africa, but most people really dont know or realize that. I think if you asked the average American where Wuhan is, they might know today it is in China because it has been in the news, but 6 months ago, or 6 months from now, it will be forgotten.

By the way, while I dont follow it, "Blacks" often prefer to be called "African American", which I think is silly.

[bigegypt0417]

Let's leave speculation about people's motivation out of this discussion. I'm not talking about Trump or Biden or any political figure when I post about naming the virus.

Here is the approximate order in which I hear names being used:

1. Coronavirus
2. Wuhan Virus
3. COVID-19
4. Chinese Virus

Coronavirus is by far and away the winner, being used in both media and conversation at a much higher rate than the other three combined. That is really unfortunate, because coronavirus is the name of a common virus family, some of which are quite mild. This runs a real risk of extreme panic next time a mild, common-cold causing coronavirus becomes active. I prefer any of the other three names to using coronavirus because of that. (Actually COVID-19 is also technically incorrect...the virus is named SARS-CoV-2, the disease is COVID-19.) The general public knows that this virus originated in Wuhan, China due to the intensive media coverage. An average person calling it the "Chinese Virus" is no more racist than a historian referring to the H1N1 outbreak in 1918 as the Spanish Flu.

We should leave the motivation alone while you attempt to explain to us again why it isn't a big deal?

Thank you for explaining that to all of us PC...I'm sure those who may be harmed by it will be encouraged by your explanation.

[allentown]

An average person calling it the "Chinese Virus" is no more racist than a historian referring to the H1N1 outbreak in 1918 as the Spanish Flu.

an

It is no worse than labeling the 1918 outbreak the Spanish Flu, but 1918 was a time of severe open prejudice: de jure segregation and laws barring immigration of Chinese families and Anarchist law restrictions on immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. The quotas based upon current share of U.S. population adopted in 1921 was explicitly aimed at eastern and southern Europeans. The n-word was used in polite society and blacks were not eligible for many government programs and barred from voting in much of the South. It was definitely prior to thee age of the 'generic white person' essentially ending severe discrimination against southern and eastern European whites. So, when you say no more objectionable than 'Spanish flu' in 1918, that isn't saying a whole lot that is positive.

[andyb]

There are definitely nuances here. As a matter of language it is fine to associate the virus with where it originated like in the Spanish flu. The difference here is that it is a transparent attempt by a political actor to use language for non-descriptive purposes. Trump has a pretty clear history of using language around immigration this way. Foreign invaders. Rapists, murderers. Around trade the language has often centered around the Chinese as bad actors.

While the language might be technically correct, it is used to demonize a people for political purposes. Arab Americans hate being depicted in movies as terrorists 90% of the time. Jews hate being portrayed as money launderers. Latinos don't like being portrayed as migrant workers and housekeepers all the time. And Asian people don't like be stereotyped as evil on trade or disease carriers.

The language might be fine, but the motivation is not. That makes it wrong. And everyone should order some Asian takeout this week. Those restaurants are hurting even more than typical restaurants because this language has made some people think the food is tainted.

[phillychuck]

@bigegypt0417 I disagree with you, and I can do without the sarcastic snark.

Would you harm someone because they named a virus after their country of origin?

Then why do you presume others would?

Does calling it "coronavirus" lessen the chance that some psychopath would target a Chinese person? Were those psychopaths not watching the news in December, January, and February? If we name it differently will they somehow forget it originated in Wuhan, China? I seriously consider it impossible to predict the behavior of psychopaths.

[bigegypt0417]

It's not like I'm making this up...It's not like I came here to discuss this without understanding it's already happening. This isn't a conversation about "what-ifs" but what is occurring.

As someone who was an adult during the weeks and months after 9/11 and an Arab-american, I don't think I need you to break down this type of dog whistling.

Coronavirus resurfaces the US’s history of using disease as an excuse to be...

[phillychuck]

Small note here on Spanish flu, too. It was called that since Spanish doctors were the first to ID it, not because it originated there. MERS on the other hand was named "Middle Eastern" because it did originate there. I believe that was within the last decade (2012 was the first known case, I think.)

[phillychuck]

Sorry, I disagree with the premise that the name is what is causing any xenophobic behavior. The article you cited doesn't claim that, either.

It's hard to get past the bias in the first sentence of that article, too.

Finally, I'm not "explaining" anything to anyone here. I'm giving my point of view, just like you are. I'd appreciate you dropping the hostile attitude--you have posted on this forum with me for years, I would think you would know me better.

Sorry to not agree with you here, I'll drop the discussion at this point because I need to get to work.

[schillingfan]

I may be overly optimistic, but I don't think any sane people are going to run around shooting other Americans (regardless of ethnicity) because we call something the Wuhan Virus. And I don't really think there is any way to predict or control the behavior of psychotic people. They might just as likely shoot people because we didn't call it the Wuhan Virus.

COVID-19 is fairly standard for this one now, and most will probably solely rely on that as we move forward, but I'd rather hear Wuhan Virus than "Coronavirus" (which is the more widely used common name--just google it) because there are many coronaviruses, and the next time a mild one shows up we'll see a panic because of the name confusion.

I just wanted to point out it's not racist to name a virus after its point of origin, it is standard practice.

You missed my original point. The Administration quietly urged its conservative media following into calling it a name based on its area of origin. It wasn’t commonly called that. Why would they deliberately ask people to call it the China virus or Wuhan virus? That why it’s called propaganda, an attempt to influence mass thinking for a political purpose.

[bigegypt0417]

It's a text book dog whistle.

[Purduke]

We are holding this conversation as if the Wuhan naming just evolved from unknown origins. It started recently after 1) parts of the Chinese government began asserting that it had actually started in America and was spread to China by a US soldier, and 2) parts of the Chinese government not so subtly telling the US that if the administration continued to cite China as the source of the epidemic China could easily make this crisis worse for America if they decided to limit reagent and\or PPE production.

You had liberal, globalists like Ian Bremmer and Richard Haas just this week condemning China's misinformation campaign as an effort to shirk it's responsibility as being a source of the outbreak -- not exactly Trumpsters.

In my opinion that is why the WH began using the Wuhan naming (while also trying to tamper down anti-Chinese sentiments when talking about China's role for the pandemic during press conferences etc). But those conversations are going to be held eventually -- we have had 3 mid to major pandemics originate in China in the last ten years with the Swine flu, Avian flu and now the Wuhan virus. There is a hygiene or other issue in China that permits these Zoonotic viruses to flourish. This is an economic externality just like uncosted pollution is in the global warming\medical illness equations many are much more willing to recognize.

[bigegypt0417]

You had liberal, globalists like Ian Bremmer and Richard Haas just this week condemning China's misinformation campaign as an effort to shirk it's responsibility as being a source of the outbreak -- not exactly Trumpsters.

So we should call it that as a punishment?

What's the useful purpose of calling it Wuhan or Chinese? What is the actual intent? Why would you call it anything but its scientific name?

[andyb]

If we can agree on anything it is that the Trump administration motivation around their messaging is ALWAYS political. Retaliating against the Chinese propaganda with your own propaganda is just juvenile schoolyard behavior.

Until the last few days every public interaction from the Trump administration from non-medical personnel was all about damage control and winning the next election. The praise of their own actions is almost sickening to listen to, as if credible people like Fauci and Berks have to praise Trump in every other sentence just to get in some actual medical advice.
Motivations are important here and Trump has been far from noble throughout this exercise. The whole Jared Kushner fiasco (the awful speech from the Oval Office and the messaging sessions with conservative groups) stems from this.

[bigegypt0417]

If we can agree on anything it is that the Trump administration motivation around their messaging is ALWAYS political. Retaliating against the Chinese propaganda with your own propaganda is just juvenile schoolyard behavior.

Remember when our expectation was to be better?