China. China China. ChinaChinaChina for the China

My wife was born in China but left when she was a young kid. She recently vetoed a trip to the local Asian supermarket on coronavirus grounds (which makes getting stuff for new year’s harder). Of course, she and her mom are usually pretty cautious about all types of contagions.

It’s conflating Chinese-Americans, most of whom have never been to China, with mainland Chinese citizens, specifically in the context of a negative trait, and despite the fact that there have been very few confirmed cases in the US. It suggests that the most salient point of that community is their ethnicity, and furthermore that we should avoid those communities because of some things that are happening to some other people who happen to share the same ethnicity.

There’s no particular reason to believe that the people at the Asian markets in the US have recently been to Wuhan area, nor any particular reason to believe that there’s a high infection potential from a casual shopping expedition.

I suppose there’s slightly more chance of people having been to mainland China now, due to the new year, than at other times, but it still seems unlikely to be a significant risk.

I mean, I kind of get it, from the perspective of an overabundance of caution, if you don’t need to go to higher risk places, you shouldn’t. But there’s no particular reason to believe that Asian markets in the US are higher risk in any meaningful way.

I think I mostly agree. I mean, it wouldn’t shock me if the God of Probability told me that at this moment in time, the risk of contracting coronavirus from a trip to the Asian market was 2 or 3 times the risk of contracting the same virus from a trip to a non-Asian market. What would surprise is if the risk in either case was in any way significant.

I tease my wife myself that there’s basically zero chance of exposure - but she’s still scarred from having a front row seat for SARS and with a 3 year old at home, she’s going to be overcautious.

Heh… this reminds me so much of my wife. There is no arguing with a mother Lion’s concern for her cub, and quoting statistics at her is certainly not going to help.

The wise partner knows when not to argue.

Im off next week to a high end restaurant favoured by the Chinese international jet set and didnt think about any risk. To be honest its pretty much certain that the a person showing symptoms who is going to get out of a quarantine is a rich man but hey, its fish maw in abalone sauce and i wont be paying.

So… never? :)

Ok, can you please talk to my wife too? I beg you.

But I would push back and say this is cross-cultural barrier. Not really a case of racism per se.

My folks are currently on a 777 from Seoul. I need to pick them up in a couple of hours.

Nothing like sitting in a narrow aluminum tube for 10 hours with hundreds of other passengers and breathing recycled air.

This will be a fun week. Any cough or fever is going to be like hitting the panic button.

Possibly. There was some similar panic about visiting Chinatowns during the SARS period, which was more explicitly racist, as it was circulated amongst non-Asian Americans. In the US, I think it also has shades of, say, the ostracization of the Nisei during WWII.

Now a port city is locked down

And a good sized province (45 million) has banned public gatherings

Shall we play a game?

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

It’s probably a bit early for global thermonuclear war.

Right; we haven’t confirmed that people who apparently recover from the virus are destined to turn into zombies three weeks later.

One of them has tested negative. The other two are still awaiting results and have been isolated.

Apparently one of the US cases is here in the Phoenix area at ASU.

10% of UW’s student population comes from China. Probably the same numbers at most US research universities. Little wonder they’re the focal points. Especially with all the recent holiday travel.

So I work at a university in Sydney. One international student has tested positive for it already. A fair few colleagues are worried that when all of the international students return from China after lunar new year and the approaching semester that we’ll all be most at risk. It’s hard to know how paranoid they are.

The people who are most worried are Chinese themselves who have experience with the government there.

Removed joke in bad taste.

Hey, a border wall wouldn’t work, but a boarder wall would! No one gets on the plane.