Worldwide, have there already been instances of bigotry and/or racism associated with Corona Virus fears?

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, I have no doubt that there would have been.

Surveys by sociologists have found that about one in six people is racist;
within this, the range can vary from mild and unconscious all the way to KKK.

A bigger problem is that the economies, medical systems and government policies of different countries have a profound effect on how effectively they can contain the epidemic and treat its victims and carriers.
The poorer the country, the greater the difficulty - and the more likely a pandemic.

There is nothing inherently racial or racist about why or how a country suffers from poverty.
Except that that's a really hard assertion to argue.
An opponent could object that most poor countries are poor because they were formerly colonised by Europeans. Since independence, they have struggled to establish meaningful democracies, have high population growth combined with low education, little or no access to medicine, and low technology. For some, such as India, high tech is accessible only for the middle and upper classes.
One could argue that this is a situation inherited from and therefore caused by the racist behaviours of the former colonial administrators.

Recently, when Australia banned Chinese students from our universities.
China openly accused us of racism.
I don't believe that accusation was justified.

This was just after the Corona/Covid-19 virus had been identified as an epidemic in Hubei.
There had been a gap of about a fortnight
between when the first doctor warned his government
and when the Chinese authorities confessed to the World Health Organisation.

In that gap, the virus had already spread to a point where it was difficult to contain.

What China didn't realise is that most Australians highly value all our overseas students.
We want and need them.

It is true that there are instances of terrible racism against our international students.
2 foreign students (one Indian, one Chinese) were kicked and punched to death by Australian groups of male students. In both cases, it was caused by jealousy over a potential girlfriend having chosen an exotic boy. Media has made much of this and there is no minimising the atrocity of it. One Iraqi girl, a good Muslim, was raped and stabbed to death by an Aussie student who had stalked her.
A small proportion of foreign students who arrive with poor spoken English run into difficulties. They may read and write well, but they can't converse or socialise. They become isolated and lonely. This can lead to depression and, in one case, suicide. They are unwilling to admit to their parents or others when they're in trouble.
But the majority of foreign students integrate well, make friends and are successful.
Many end up applying for and being granted citizenship.

Across all Aussie unis, the percentage of international students averages 22%, and in individual unis varies between 2% and 49%.
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS): in 2018, higher education of foreign student was worth $32.4 billion to the economy, about 1.6% of our total economy.
1.6% might seem a small proportion, but since we are a small country, we care a lot, (too much when it comes to selling fossil fuels, uranium and live cattle and sheep), about every cent we make.

There is no way that Australia would have banned the Chinese students (and all travel from China) if it hadn't been for the need to prevent the disease from spreading here.
Since then, we've also banned people from the other hotspots, Korea and Iran, where there are very poor health systems and unwise decisions have been made by their governments.
We have mandatory testing for people wishing to come from Northern Italy.
And we've had a mandatory two-week quarantine for Australians returning home from those countries.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
After a few isolated cases over the last few weeks,
we now have evidence of "community spread."
This means people contracting it from others who had no symptoms.
As of today, there are 45 people who've caught it in Sydney.

Since the virus does not recognise race, the moral imperative is that all people should receive the best possible protections and treatments irrespective of their race or circumstances.

In this case, if even one person denies treatment for Corona on the basis of bias, whole communities and nations will be affected. It would be like the flu pandemic of 1919.


This post was edited by inky at March 6, 2020 4:40 AM MST

Corona virus coronavirus. It's one word.

Something's amiss here. The real Randy D doesn't make errors like this. You obviously are an impostor, a faux Randy. Where is he and what have you done with him?